Tuesday, November 3, 2026
The Olympia City Council is considering how to adapt the city’s homelessness response plan as demand grows and funding uncertainty rises.
During a study session on the city’s One Community Plan on Tuesday, Oct. 13, Olympia Housing Director Ashley Chambers warned of problems during a presentation of the plan.
“We have more needs and fewer resources and higher economic pressure impacting lower-income households, and we have more people (who) need help while we have fewer resources,” said Chambers to council members.
The presentation outlined the city’s efforts to address homelessness, expand affordable housing, prevent people from losing their homes, and improve public health and safety.
Chambers said the city has an opportunity to shift from a reactive approach to a more proactive one, while evaluating whether existing programs remain effective as demand increases.
“I am not saying that we stop doing anything we are doing,” Chambers said. “I am saying the reality is that it may not be having the same impact as it once did because the inflow is increasing.”
Chambers cited shrinking state and federal resources, but did not identify which funding sources are at risk, potential losses, or the services that could be affected.
Council member Dani Madrone called for earlier financial forecasting and contingency plans.
“If there’s a cliff we’re facing in June, we should know that in December and have a plan B," she said.
Madrone also raised concerns about staff burnout and sustainability of the workforce responsible for delivering homelessness services.
She asked staff to consider what success looks like not only for people experiencing homelessness, but also for employees exposed to difficulties at work.
Chambers said the city could make its homelessness response more proactive, advocate for funding, and use data to identify where targeted efforts might improve outcomes.
Council members differed on what Olympia should prioritize next under the One Community Plan.
Mayor Dontae Payne called for more attention to shelter capacity, cleanliness and safety, while stressing the city’s responsibility to people experiencing homelessness. He asked how many people need shelter and where the city should prioritize its efforts.
Payne also asked whether resources could keep pace with rising demand.
“Picture 900 people trying to get onto a small lifeboat — which is the City of Olympia,” Payne said. “At what point do we recognize that our resources are limited, and we need to make some policy shifts or adjustments to be a little bit more stable with what our capacity is as an organization?”
Council member Clark Gilman said success should include safe places for people to stay day and night, and urged staff to reconsider their approach in light of changing needs.
Council member Paul Berendt emphasized setting priorities realistically, while continuing to pursue more shelter and housing.
Chambers said the regional Homeless Management Information System recorded 7,350 people over the past year, including 3,709 new entrants. She said records may represent households rather than every individual, since minors may not be listed or only one household member may appear.
As of June 30, the system listed 2,709 people as unsheltered, 556 as sheltered and 1,430 with housing outcomes.
Chambers said the system has bottlenecks at the shelter and housing stages. She reported 557 shelter beds in the community and an average of about 287 days from entering the system to leaving.
She said the data is incomplete and should not be treated as a definitive count of everyone experiencing homelessness in Olympia. She added the bed figure does not indicate vacancies.
Council member Yen Huynh suggested an online dashboard.
“I would love to get to a place where we could have even if it’s a simple one, like an online interactive dashboard for folks that go to our city website," she said.
Council member Kelly Green praised the progress under the One Community Plan, including closure of 14 homeless encampments.
She asked how the city can sustain services and housing efforts as needs evolve, and how it could better support neighborhoods experiencing the effects of homelessness.
Other priorities raised during the discussion included homeless prevention, affordable housing, improved data on families and youths, as well as long-term funding.
City Manager Jay Burney said Chambers would return in early 2027 with an update informed by council feedback.
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Positivity
JOLT - Please, please, please, PLEASE add the capacity to enlarge graphics like these so that they are readable. Even using a magnifying glass this graphic (and other maps, plans, and graphics) was illegible. This has been an ongoing problem in JOLT articles. I know you can click on the graphic for it to open in another window, but the graphic is the same size and sometimes even smaller. Please add an enlargement tool to the additional window or allow the graphic to automatically enlarge when it is opened in the other window. Otherwise the plans, graphics, maps, etc. are of no use in your articles. Thank you.
Wednesday, October 14 Report this
chrispc2u
How about if we divert ALL of the “Homeless Response” money to repave the rutted and badly patched city streets of Olympia instead??? Hold on, take 10% of those funds to buy one way tickets for the professional bums that Olympia has been attracting since Covid like flies with their enabling city policies to ship them out of town?
Thursday, October 15 Report this
TheVirtualOne
Dear Mayor Payne - While I support a fundamental amount of help for the homeless, it is clear the city, county, and state have failed miserably in executing the plans to address this. You have a greater responsibility to the people who have been footing the bill for the millions of taxpayer funded programs that have contributed to the increase in crime, poor performance by law enforcement agencies, and tolerance of drug offenders and street crime that have become the norm in Olympia, just like the failed city to our north, Seattle. I have ceased patronage to any downtown businesses during this period because of numerous personal experiences and encounters with what has become an accepted level of street vagrancy and open air drug use that continues to erode the livability of Olympia. I have a few simple suggestions that I know many people wish you would do. Arrest and jail the many criminals who have affiliated themselves with the homeless. Offer services to those who need them, but if they refuse give them a one-way bus ticket out of the state and place a no-trespass order preventing them from returning. Stop wasting money on those from outside the community who come here simply to embed themselves and participate in the local system of giveaways. Start holding those being provided with assistance accountable instead of just giving handouts and walking away.
Thursday, October 15 Report this
CobraCommander
Guess I have to tap the sign again:
If you believe in jailing homeless people, you already believe homeless people should have housing and food paid for by the public. You've just decided that the housing provided should be super expensive, should suck, and their lives should be miserable while they receive that housing and food.
This says a lot less about homeless people than it does about the assholes who want people to suffer.
Thursday, October 15 Report this
TheGreatAnon
TheVirtualOne: None of your suggestions are moral, ethical, Constitutional let alone realistic but they are very expensive. If you don't like it here I'll buy you a one way bus ticket to wherever you would be happier.
Thursday, October 15 Report this
CobraCommander
Seconded
Friday, October 16 Report this
TheVirtualOne
TheGreatAnon - Hahaha! Obvious you haven’t a clue what morality or ethics are, much less any idea what the Constitution says.
Doubling down on 1) arresting and jailing the criminals (drug dealers, rapists, human traffickers, etc.) who have associated themselves with the homeless; 2) hose who are left are offered services to assist them with turning themselves away from the homeless lifestyle (temporary shelter, rehab, job training, etc.); 3) if they refuse the assistance then send them away from the city, county, and state to pursue their dreams elsewhere.
Every other civilized country in the world looks upon the USA with horror and disdain for allowing this country to deteriorate in the third world country it has become. Go to Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, etc. They have in common one thing - protect their citizens by enforcing laws and have zero tolerance for those who don’t.
Oh, and thank you for the ticket offer, but can I have the money instead? Happy to stop by your blue tarp in “The Jungle” and pick it up. ;-)
Friday, October 16 Report this
MrCommonSense
From the article: Chambers cited shrinking state and federal resources, but did not identify which funding sources are at risk, potential losses, or the services that could be affected.
Based on the comment above and questions and comments from the City Council it seems some of the problems stem from the City Manager and HR. It seems the job description of Housing director should include not only knowing all the possible funding sources, but knowing and projecting $$ based on the current circumstances. A Housing Director should also be looking for and proposing solutions to the Council for consideration. A Housing Director should be coordinating with all other jurisdictions to present a regional approach both in action and funding. Again, Olympia is extremely good at pointing out existing problems, but can't quickly find and implement adequate solutions. Olympia thinks Olympia can solve all its own problems in its own way. with its own limited staff. It's a small town with big problems. Wouldn't it be better to have ONE coordinated county wide homeless program supported by all the cities and the county. Plenty of money could be saved and used more beneficially.
Friday, October 16 Report this
MrCommonSense
To the Jolt. Again, an unreadable graphic. Please fix.
Also comments should be newest to oldest with the ability for readers to "reply" to comments and thumbs up or thumbs down the comments. Doesn't seem like this would be so hard and would cause more engagement. I have sent this directly to the Jolt. Maybe if more folks would comment about changing the comment section, we could get some action one this!?
Friday, October 16 Report this
CobraCommander
VirtualOne - the Constitution says all that? Citation needed!
'Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, etc.' Offer rehabilitative prison conditions, not a prison-industrial complex such as the model that the USA operates.
Guess who has the largest per-capita incarceration rate? Spoiler alert: its us! 1.83 million people and growing.
Friday, October 16 Report this
CobraCommander
Nah, Im coming at you with facts and you're deflecting
Friday, October 16 Report this
TheVirtualOne
Congratulations!
Now here’s some bird seed. Get off the chessboard so we can clean up all your ****. ;-)
Friday, October 16 Report this
CobraCommander
You're describing yourself, dingus. You cant handle facts so you attack the individual instead of defending your argument
Typical MAGA tantrum
Saturday, October 17 Report this
TheVirtualOne
:-o
Sunday, October 18 Report this
TheVirtualOne
MAGA? What's that? I have nothing to do with that. Unlike you, I don't need labels, names, or groups. I am a neuro-demi-panpolitical-fluid-flux individual. You are a TDS whiner.
Sunday, October 18 Report this
CobraCommander
So cowardly you wont even admit to your affiliation, gotcha.
Lol guy the only people that bring up TDS are MAGA pukes. You're in a fantasy world.
Sunday, October 18 Report this
TheVirtualOne
Enjoy your stay in Narnia. It’s the best place for someone like you.
Wednesday, October 21 Report this
Yeti1981
I continue to believe we need to take a serious look at what other communities, particularly Houston, have done to successfully reduce homelessness. Not because Olympia isn't trying, but because after years of planning, significant public investment, and expanded services, we are still seeing the problem grow.
I went through Olympia's October 13 presentation and the accompanying One Community Plan progress report. There are accomplishments worth recognizing, including expanded housing options, coordinated services, and efforts that have helped people transition out of encampments. But the presentation also shows that Thurston County's Point-in-Time homeless count increased to 1,058 in 2026, the highest figure shown in the report. The regional system also reports an average of 287 days from entry to housing outcomes, and in the second quarter of 2026, just 49.2% of recorded system exits were to housing.
What concerns me is that we're still spending considerably more time discussing programs, partnerships, and activities than demonstrating whether those efforts are producing sustained reductions in homelessness. How many people are moving into permanent housing? How many remain housed a year or two later? How much are we spending per successful outcome? And, importantly, what do those numbers look like specifically within Olympia rather than across Thurston County?
The presentation actually asks the City Council what success should look like and what outcomes should be measured going forward. Those are appropriate questions, but I would argue they should have been central to evaluating the plan from the beginning.
I don't question the commitment of the people working on this issue. I question whether we are willing to critically evaluate the approach, learn from communities producing better results, and make changes when the evidence tells us something isn't working as intended.
Ultimately, success shouldn't be measured by how many programs we've created or how much money we've spent. It should be measured by whether fewer people are experiencing homelessness and more people are achieving lasting housing stability.
Tuesday, October 27 Report this
TheVirtualOne
One of the biggest issues with many of the homeless is substance abuse. We need to move away from providing taxpayer-subsidized housing and giveaways without preconditions for treatment or sobriety, and toward helping people reach self-sufficiency. That’s the simplest way to put more accountability in place.
Wednesday, October 28 Report this