PORT ANGELES – Clallam County will not, for now,  directly administer state dollars earmarked to deal with homelessness.

However, county officials say they could explore bringing the administration in house.

Every two years, the county has the option of opting in or out on how the dollars are administrated. A “Homelessness Task Force” has for years offered recommendations on how the grant money should be spent.

Most of the counties in western Washington now do the administration in house.

County commissioner Randy Johnson said in a work session last week, it may make sense for the county to explore if it is time to go a different direction…

Johnson asked County Health and Human Services director Andy Brastad to research similar-sized counties and what they do. Brastad says Grays Harbor, Mason and Pacific counties all recently took on administering homelessness grants. They said they have seen advantages in being in the lead position on the funding locally. But they also warned if Clallam were to make a change, there should be a lengthy transition period.

Clallam County had to make a decision by last Friday. Due to the tight timeline they decided to opt out again and use the next two years as time to further research and develop possible transition of the grant administration in house.