The King County Regional Homelessness Authority has been quiet currently.
That could be as a result of the group tasked with elevating funds and implementing a coordinated technique to scale back the variety of folks dwelling with out safety throughout the area has been with out a chief since Could, when former CEO Marc Dones stepped down .
Again in July, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell introduced the formation of a committee to steer the seek for a brand new everlasting CEO. Based on Harrell’s press launch on the time, ultimate candidates had been anticipated to be interviewed in December, with a call on a brand new CEO in early 2024.
That timeline did not occur. Whereas Harrell and others on the search committee ought to concentrate on lacking deadlines, it is necessary that they discover the suitable particular person for this job.
The authority has clearly made errors since its inception in 2019. It had bother getting its administrative capabilities below management and repair suppliers went unpaid. Its signature mission to deal with each particular person dwelling undocumented in downtown Seattle — which was meant to be duplicated in communities all through the area — failed.
The trouble included establishing a command heart, hiring outreach staff, specializing in an outlined geographic location, working with non-public landlords to seek out housing, and creating an inventory of names of these dwelling on the streets.
Ultimately, about 1,000 folks had been on the surname record. The RHA reported that 231 folks had been housed, at a value of $5.5 million to philanthropic donors and $2.2 million to taxpayers.
Based on the RHA, the search agency employed to discover a new CEO may have a job description firmed up by the tip of the month. It can promote the place in early January. The agency expects to have an inventory of candidates to current to the search committee in March 2024.
It may be an excessive amount of to hope that native political powers may land somebody like John Stanford, the Seattle Public Colleges superintendent recruited right here in 1995. The retired U.S. Military main normal had no training expertise, however captured the town’s creativeness with daring proposals equivalent to e.g. more durable educational requirements, a joint “studying offensive” and the empowerment of principals. He died of leukemia in 1998 as scholar check scores continued to rise for the third 12 months in a row.
Three months from a job posting to authorised candidates is an aggressive timeline. The RHA might have to herald further interim assist if interim CEO Helen Howell leaves earlier than a everlasting substitute is discovered. It could profit the area to have an interim chief who understood the county’s Byzantine politics and robust personalities, setting the stage for future success.
Whoever succeeds Dones, that particular person should be sure that RHA establishes the basics, will get extra worth for cash and gathers neighborhood goodwill to give attention to downtown Seattle.
With out these constructing blocks, significant progress on homelessness will likely be unattainable.