The Tacoma Housing Authority has won a VISION 2050 Award from the Puget Sound Regional Council for the Arlington Drive Youth Campus. The VISION 2050 awards recognize innovative projects and programs that help ensure a sustainable future as the region grows. Puget Sound Regional Council Executive Director Josh Brown presented the Tacoma Housing Authority with the award at THA’s Annual Meeting on August 24, 2022.
The Arlington Drive Youth Campus helps homeless youth coming out of crisis and traumatic situations as well as young adults who were previously experiencing homelessness, transitioning from foster care, or on the threshold of homelessness. This ambitious and innovative development addresses many long-sought community goals in one central campus, provides youth and young adults with a second chance at a reasonable adolescence, and exemplifies major improvements for Pierce County’s efforts to reduce youth homelessness.
Josh Brown | Puget Sound Regional Council Executive director
The Arlington Drive Youth Campus transformed a 3.5-acre parcel in Tacoma’s Salishan neighborhood into a facility providing housing, healthcare, and supportive services for Tacoma’s most vulnerable youth and young adults. The campus consists of a Crisis Residential Center for homeless youth and a 58-unit apartment complex. City of Tacoma, Pierce County, SMR Architects, Korsmo Construction, Community Youth Services, The Social Impact Center of the YMCA of Greater Seattle, Washington State’s Office of Homeless Youth and the State of Washington Housing Trust Fund are all partners in the project.
VISION 2050 is the region’s plan for growth. By 2050, the region’s population will reach 5.8 million people. The region’s cities, counties, Tribes, ports, agencies, businesses, and communities have worked together to develop VISION 2050 to prepare for this growth and serve as a guide for sustaining a healthy environment, thriving communities and a strong economy.
About Tacoma Housing Authority
Established in 1940, Tacoma Housing Authority provides high-quality, stable and sustainable housing and supportive services to people in need. It does this in ways that help them prosper and help our communities develop equitably. THA develops and manages real estate and provides rental housing. In partnership with thousands of private landlords, it helps families pay the rent in the private rental market. It delivers supportive services to help families succeed as “tenants, parents, students, wage earners and builders of assets who can live without assistance.” THA seeks to do its work in ways that help our community be an “attractive place to live, work, attend school, shop and play,” and that help Tacoma be “safe, vibrant, prosperous, attractive and just.”