The Federal Way City Council voted Oct. 15 to delay funding to the Federal Way Day Center for three months after hearing community members speak out against ongoing issues there.

The council was voting on grants through the human services department and ultimately approved grants to 33 organizations or programs, four of which will be funded through the Community Business Development Grant.

Located at 33505 13th Pl. S., the Day Center requested $100,000 and has received multiple grants from the city for the past several years. The Human Services Commission recommended funding the center at $50,000 this year. After discussion, the council moved to fully fund another organization whose representatives came to speak at public comment and hold the Day Center’s funding with the expectation that issues will be resolved.

“This year we’re $5,000 into vandalism … we’ve picked up human feces from our garbage area, needles, all sorts of things …. and this has gone since the Day Center has been there,” nearby building owner Jackie Muth said, adding that “it has to be costly to the city just to clean up that place.”

Public commenter Carmen Kaler said that “their inability to manage their operations, the open air drug use, the negative impact on nearby businesses, the drain on first responders and the latest display of an upside down American flag on the premises,” all concern her.

“The people of this city time and again have asked you over and over and over at this podium to get a handle on the Day Center mess … I don’t care what the excuse is, there’s children across the street who have to see this every day. I’ve spoken myself to a parent who had to put her kid back in the car and leave because there was a naked man standing in the parking lot,” public commenter Dara Mandeville said.

In a statement after the council meeting, the city of Federal Way issued a statement: “The Day Center has always been a valued partner in our community. The nearby businesses and daycare facilities are also community assets that we want to protect. The city council postponed their decision to approve 2025 funding of the Day Center until January, which indicates our desire to help the Day Center come up with long-term solutions to improve the safety and security of the neighborhood. We look forward to implementing those plans and approving the funding in time for the Day Center’s 2025 operations.”

Ken Stark is the chair of the Human Services Commission who spoke at public comment as a community member.

“Let’s for a minute talk about the people that are in that parking lot, what do they need? They need residential detox, they need residential alcohol drug treatment, they need residential mental health, they need shelter and they need a few other things. Guess what? We don’t have any of that in Federal Way … except for FUSION and the family shelter. And King County has a limited capacity. We need to figure out how to build that capacity,” Stark said.

Representatives from the Day Center were not able to comment on the impact that the reduction in funding will have, but were able to provide more insight into what is happening behind the scenes of the challenges named by public commenters.

“These are folks who grew up in Federal Way”

Lady Siufanua is the director of healthcare initiatives for the Coordinated Care Agencies and is involved in the management of the Day Center.

The Mirror reported on issues at the Day Center a year ago, and since then, Siufanua said they have increased security and have three staff that spend the last hour of their shift every day telling people to leave the property.

“The space is behavior based. They’re not allowed to use on the property, it’s illegal to sell drugs. We will break service with people,” she said.

Speaking to the issues that nearby business owners and community members mention, Siufanua said that while the Day Center gets a lot of focus, there are other organizations that offer similar services right nearby that could also be a draw, like Valley Cities Behavioral Health, the Multi-Service Center or nextdoor HealthPoint clinic.

The challenge is that there has been no increase of shelter options or treatment resources to send people to this past year, Siufanua said.

Siufanua said that the people who use the Day Center the most often and most consistently are all from Federal Way.

In 2023, the Day Center served 752 unique visitors, but Siufanua shared that they have around 40 to 45 individuals that they classify as high utilizers, accessing services near daily.

“There’s that narrative that folks are coming from outside of the area, but really these are folks who grew up in Federal Way,” she said.

As someone who raised her kids in Federal Way and still feels a deep connection to the city despite having been priced out, Siufanua said she understands firsthand the desire many of her Federal Way clients feel to stay in the community they have a connection to as well.

Council discussion

The council held a thoughtful discussion on how to respond. Councilmember Lydia Assefa-Dawson, who has been a consistent advocate for the Day Center, shared that she is not happy with their services.

“It’s a little disappointing that they are not here today … I’ve always supported the Day Center, but today it’s going to be different … one because they’re not even here when they were invited to defend their funding request, and also because they have not been neighborly. I mean they are not good neighbors.”

Councilmember Hoang Tran shared a heartfelt plea to engage with compassion in their deliberation, and highlighted how his own life experiences with being homeless and living in a refugee camp inform his view.

He criticized the narrative that people using the Day Center are from places outside of Federal Way and therefore don’t deserve help. Before moving to the United States, Tran shared that he experienced living in an oppressive situation where he couldn’t even visit a family member in another city without applying for permission.

“It is the human nature to move around, to where they can find jobs, where they can find housing, lower cost of living or additional services,” Tran said, asking the room, “does it really matter where they came from? That is not who we are. We take care of our people regardless of where we came from. That is Americans, that is America. Since when do we turn our back on our people? If you turned your back like this forty-plus years ago, I wouldn’t be here.”

While other councilmembers responded with appreciation for Tran’s words, all councilmembers voted yes to Tran’s singular nay vote to delaying the grant to the Day Center.