26th District State Rep. Adison Richards and Robin Lund, executive director of Kitsap Rescue Mission, gave presentations at the Port Orchard City Council meeting Oct. 14.
Richards highlighted legislative actions from the 2025 session in Olympia that affect Port Orchard.
“We’ll get a study update in April on some environmental reviews and then we also specified funding this session to do an archaeological study in Gorst itself,” Richards said, referring to the Gorst Corridor project. “What I didn’t want to see happen is for us to come up with a grand bargain solution with all of the stakeholders and then start digging and find native artifacts because that’s the Squamish Tribe’s historic fishing village right there in Gorst itself. So we want to make sure we get ahead of the curve on that.”
Richards also addressed property taxes and childcare legislation. He opposed efforts to increase the property tax threshold from 1% to 3%, citing concerns from constituents, particularly seniors on fixed incomes.
On childcare, Richards noted a bill supported by the 26th District delegation aimed at expanding options for families. “It essentially creates more flexibility for places like churches to operate as childcare facilities during the course of the week,” he said. “One of the big cost-of-living drivers, especially for young families, is child care, and the issue is not having enough options. This was one bill that we could pass to help create more options.”
Following Richards, Lund provided an update on the Kitsap Rescue Mission’s recent operations and accomplishments. She recounted the organization’s move into the Pacific Building in January and the transition from a hotel-based to a congregate shelter model.
“After three long years of waiting to have access to the Pacific building on Jan. 20, we actually had more than 50 volunteers helping us prepare the shelter and get it ready for our move, which happened on Jan. 29,” Lund said. “The following 90 days we spent just unpacking, getting everybody situated, finding homeostasis, and acclimating in our new congregate shelter model.”
Lund said KRM serves vulnerable individuals, families, couples, and their pets, using a coordinated system that includes a vulnerability assessment tool, background checks, and pet evaluations.
“In 2024, we provided 132 guests with safe emergency shelter and supportive services — 95 adults and 37 children — and served more than 33,000 healthy, nutritious meals,” she said. “We also provided 1,215 mental health and substance use disorder services and moved 80 shelter guests into longer-term and permanent housing.”
So far in 2025, she said, the shelter has served 95 guests, provided 15,900 meals, and helped 66 guests move into longer-term housing.
Lund highlighted the community impact of the shelter’s work, including a decrease in police calls, EMT calls, and hospital transports, which she said represents significant cost savings for the county and cities. She also described ongoing projects at the shelter, including an organic garden, supported by local volunteers and businesses.
“Our model is continuous stay,” Lund said. “There are two guidelines that must be followed while they’re with us: they participate in the housing stability planning process and they must be good neighbors.”
