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Tacoma opens waitlist for low-income housing after two years

Families with nine or 10 people can be added to the waitlist until Dec. 3, according to the Tacoma Housing Authority.

TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma is gearing up to reopen its waitlist for low-income housing to certain families.

Starting Nov. 15, households of nine or 10 people who are eligible may receive an offer to lease a unit at a property owned by the Tacoma Housing Authority (THA) or receive a Housing Opportunity Program voucher.

The announcement is two years in the making since the THA’s waitlist closed in 2019.

Aley Thompson, interim director of rental assistance for the THA, said this approach allows the THA to help who they can and not put out false hope to those they can’t.

“Our waitlist right now has a number of smaller families who’ve been waiting for years for help,” explained Thompson. “So, it really doesn’t make sense, nor is it fair to add more families to that list and have them waiting for a long period of time.”

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Vince Vaielua, who serves as director for strategic community impact for Project 253 Tough Love Intervention, applauds the move.

Vaielua has been working with families from the Pacific Islands for decades and appreciates the focus on larger families because finding housing for all of them can be a challenge.

“We are big families, we come in large sizes, so we’re talking nine, 10, sometimes up to 15,” said Vaielua. “There’s always been this barrier of finding placement. Why? Because there’s not too many resources that can serve a family of 10, 12, up to 15.”

Vaielua said this barrier forces a lot of larger families to fall through the cracks when it comes to getting help.

“They end up living in their cars, parking their cars in shopping malls and local grocery stores and things of that nature," said Vaielua. "So they’re trying their best to live out of those circumstances.”

Now that the resources for larger families are available, Vaielua is calling on community groups to make them accessible.

“I would encourage community organizations who are the gatekeepers to these resources to make these resources accessible, and to be mindful of language barriers, and also go into the communities that mostly need it,” said Vaielua.

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