Put Homelessness Agency CEO Search on Pause, Former Governor and Seattle Chamber Leader Say

The two influential search committee members cited "uncertainties" around the future of the agency.

By Erica C. Barnett

Former governor Christine Gregoire and Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce director Rachel Smith sent an email asking the committee charged with hiring a new CEO for the King County Homelessness Authority to pause the search process, citing "many unanswered questions" and "challenges the agency has faced and/or been unable to respond to."

Another issue, Gregoire and Smith wrote, is that the city is in the middle of "ongoing conversations about making potentially significant changes to the organization, including the structure of the Authority’s governance. And finally, based on our conversations with various leaders, we have not heard confirmation of how and when the Authority will be reauthorized. "

Gregoire and Smith serve on the committee, which was scheduled to get an initial list of about a dozen candidates from a search firm today. 

As PubliCola reported earlier this week, the search for a new CEO has been rocky, and the list of applicants has reportedly inspired little excitement on the search committee. The agency's last permanent director, Marc Dones, left in May 2023, and the position has since been filled by two interim directors—former deputy CEO Helen Howell and, since January, former United Way chief financial officer Darrell Powell. Powell, an ally of Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell (and Harrell's pick for the interim position), reportedly put his name in the running for the permanent position.

Gregoire and Smith carry weight on the committee. Gregoire leads Challenge Seattle, a business coalition that helped marshal millions of dollars for the failed Partnership for Zero public-private partnership, and Smith controls the most influential business group in the region at a time when the mayor and most of the city council are strongly aligned with business interests.

Seattle elected officials have expressed dissatisfaction with the KCRHA's current governance structure, which includes an "implementation board" of subject-matter experts and a "governing board" of elected officials, and will likely propose a single board made up of, or at least dominated by, elected officials. Changing the KCRHA's governing structure would require changes to the interlocal agreement that created the authority, which is up for reauthorization at the end of the year. Seattle and King County are the major parties to that agreement; if either pulled out, it would effectively mean the end of the authority.

"We–along with all of you–are committed to securing the most experienced and qualified individual to lead the Authority," Gregoire and Smith's letter concludes. "Under the circumstances, nothing short of that can meet the needs of the organization and the community it serves. Thus, we strongly recommend a pause in the search until we, as a Committee, can ensure we are attracting the highest caliber candidates and also clearly represent the organization’s status to the candidates."