The City Manager is recommending the elimination of the HOPE Team by the end of 2026, in his budget recommendations for the 2027-28 biennial City budget. All members of the Team will be receiving “at risk” letters this week (telling them that their jobs are “at risk” of elimination in the budget). This will not be final until the City Council votes on the budget in November, but this recommendation is not good news for non-police mental health crisis response or for the HOPE Team.

City leadership has never fully supported the HOPE Team’s success, having constrained their budget and their operations by allowing Fire and Police to restrict their dispatch (Fire or Police has to ASK the HOPE Team to dispatch; the HOPE Team cannot dispatch on their own) and by preventing direct community access to the HOPE Team. So, it is not surprising that the City Manager would now deem the HOPE Team expendable.

What is particularly damaging about this recommendation is that the need for HOPE Team services has never been greater. Tacoma residents are under financial stress from rising grocery, gasoline, housing, and medical costs. Threats from the federal government about everything from immigration, to transgender rights, to disability services…add even more stress. Tacomans need our City to invest MORE City funds in our community’s well-being, not cut vital services that would mitigate some of these stressors.

Tell the City Council that the HOPE Team needs to be independent of Fire and Police, whose control over the HOPE TEAM's dispatch, assignments, and operations has severely restricted community access to HOPE's services and expertise. Add your own experiences with mental health crises, when the HOPE Team would have been the right resource for the situation. Please write as soon as you can.

Key dates when the City Council will be more fully briefed about this and other budget cut proposals:  

• Tuesday October 6, Noon, Study Session on the overall budget cuts;

• Tuesday, October 27, Noon, Study Session when Police, Fire, and Neighborhood and Community Services will brief the Council on their specific budget cuts.

And to send a note of encouragement and appreciation to the current HOPE Team members (for whom this is a difficult time), use this e-mail: tfdhope@tacoma.gov  

We leave you with this reflection from a community member (this is just a short excerpt from a longer communication):

“Most importantly, Tacoma risks losing a program that embodies an approach many cities are still trying to create. At a time when communities nationwide are searching for effective alternatives to criminalizing mental illness, addiction, and homelessness, Tacoma already has a functioning model embedded within its Fire Department.