Tacoma nonprofit that served housing-insecure women, kids closes. What happened?

A Pierce County organization that provided transitional housing for hundreds of women and children over the years has stopped services.

After selling its transitional housing facilities in Tacoma, the organization is “not serving clients” as it prepares for an official shutdown this Summer.

The organization’s executive director said the nonprofit was a victim of a system in which service providing organizations compete for a shrinking pool of financial resources – all while homelessness continues to grow.

New Phoebe House is a Tacoma-based nonprofit which serves mothers and children in Pierce County suffering from chemical dependency, homelessness and trauma by providing housing, services, support and treatment for more than 10 years.

According to Pierce County, New Phoebe House has served nearly 300 people since 2019.

From 2020 to 2024, Pierce County awarded New Phoebe House more than $1.2 million in grant funding for services such as transitional housing. According to Pierce County’s provider scorecard dashboard, the organization served 222 individuals in that time and helped 90% of those individuals exit into permanent housing.

Sherry Bockwinkel told The News Tribune she found out about the organization’s closure when she was attempting to make a donation to the organization.

The organization’s website, “NEWPHOEBEHOUSE.ORG,” now links to a different website entirely. A web search for that web address took The News Tribune to a website for the Muslim Adoption Network – which is described on the website as a Chicago-based organization arranging adoptions for Muslim children.

The phone number listed on the organization’s tax documents is no longer operating.

“Due to a combination of policy and budgetary challenges, we have reached a natural conclusion to our program. While our commitment has always been to fully live out our mission, circumstances beyond our control have made it no longer possible to continue in a way that truly upholds that mission,” Bockwinkel was told in an email from the organization’s executive director, Lisa Talbott, in December 2025.

In an interview with The News Tribune, Talbott said the phone number is no longer operational because it was a landline in one of the properties the organization sold. She said the website is no longer operational as it did not financially make sense for the organization to continue paying for it.

Talbott is the last employee left with New Phoebe House.

When asked why the organization was closing, Talbott said the reasons were “funding and legislative.”

“We made a decision as a board,” she told The News Tribune.

Talbott said the funding difficulties have been “snowballing” since after the pandemic when more and more service-providing nonprofits are competing for a shrinking amount of funding.

“Saying goodbye has been extremely …. It has been a big deal for all of us,” Talbott said. “We made a substantial impact and helped women change their lives and set a new course for their kids.”

When asked if she feared the closure of New Phoebe House would create a gap in services for women and children facing housing insecurity, Talbott said she had faith in the many other service providers in the region.

“For me to say there is a vacuum says I don’t think other organizations are picking up the pieces, and I don’t think that is true,” she told The News Tribune.

Harbor Hope Center, a Gig Harbor-based organization focused on transitional housing for youth and young adults facing or at risk of homelessness has acquired the two properties previously owned by New Phoebe House.

Harbor Hope executive director Daniel Johnson said the properties in Tacoma’s Hilltop Neighborhood would be used for transitional housing for young adults ages 18-24. He told The News Tribune the housing will be operational by May 1.

One of the properties, which was sold to New Phoebe House by the City of Tacoma for $1 in 2014, was transferred to Harbor Hope Center through the Housing Trust Fund Program at no cost.

The adjacent property was purchased by Harbor Hope Center for $334,375.

Talbott said the property was sold to Harbor Hope Center for “under market value.” She said any assets or funds held by New Phoebe House would be donated to another nonprofit.

“No one walks away with anything from a bank account,” she told The News Tribune.