Will paying homeless people to spruce up Tacoma help them and city? Program begins soon
Standing in Alling Park in Tacoma on Thursday, Parker Wilson said passersby wouldn’t know he was homeless.
“For this program I think people see us, and (we) look, like actual workers,” the 29-year-old told The News Tribune in between pouring mulch around the trees in the park.
Parker is part of a two-year program with nonprofit Valeo Vocation called Transitional Employment Pathway (TEP), which aims to help people experiencing homelessness build up job skills.
This month, a spin-off pilot program with Valeo called the Hire Program will launch, thanks to $60,000 from the City of Tacoma’s general fund. The pilot is expected to operate through December.
In the Hire Program, people in encampments or shelters across the city will be asked if they would like to take on tasks like landscape work or cleaning up litter and get paid for it. People will be selected based on input from the homeless outreach team.
The program is similar to TEP, but the Hire Program will recruit from across the city, rather than a handful of shelters.
“We can go meet people where they are in the community in different places instead of just being limited to stability sites,” said TEP case manager Benjamin McLean, adding that the program seeks to make “people productive members of society.”
Participants will be paid minimum wage, or $13.50 an hour, and can work up to 20 hours four days a week, said Sherri Jensen, CEO of Valeo Vocation. The pilot is aiming to serve about 70 people.
Council member Robert Thoms was behind the creation of the Hire Program and worked to get funds into the budget to launch the project. He said the program provides a pathway toward stability for people who are homeless and puts resources directly into the hands of people who need it most.
“It’s not a program being done to them — it’s a program done by them,” Thoms said.