The body charged with the hopes of creating a truly regional response to the Seattle-area homelessness crisis finally has a leader.
Thursday, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority announced Regina Cannon as its first Chief Executive Officer.
Regina Cannon has more than 18 years of experience leading anti-poverty initiatives addressing homelessness, supportive housing, criminal justice reform, community capacity building, and youth leadership development. She currently serves as the Chief Equity and Impact Officer at the Center for Social Innovation, also known as C4 Innovation where she leads C4 Innovations’ internal and external equity and impact initiatives and directs the SPARC: Supporting Partnerships for Anti-Racist Communities initiative.
Regina previously served as Southeast Director for the Corporation for Supportive Housing where she worked to create and provide sustainable, permanent housing solutions to those experiencing homelessness. She has managed mental health and drug court programs as well as restorative board programs for young adults engaged with the criminal justice system. She was also an Assistant Professor at Bennett College. She received Masters’ degrees in Counseling and Developmental Psychopathology from Florida State University.
CHS reported here on the 2019 formation of the authority including officials from Seattle, King County, and nearby cities, community groups and homelessness representatives.
The new authority was hoped to better organize the various county and city services addressing homelessness in the area. Seattle footed the majority of the budget for the effort as the body remained “dormant for a year, mired in infighting,” the Seattle Times reports.
As the organization is shaped, King County and Seattle staff whose work falls under the new authority were slated to be moved to be with the new group. How that shakes out in the pandemic era is yet to be seen.
Cannon, must still accept the $200,000 a year job offer.
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Declare all public parks AVAILABLE for camping and fully stock them with dumpsters and bathroom services and public vouchers for food trucks every single day, vaccination sites, testing sites, safe injection sites. DO IT!
Or, move campers into no/low barrier housing with wrap around supportive services. Seems like a more humane solution vs. living outdoors.
It’s really stunning that camping is the current solution. Seattle parks are indistinguishable from the 3rd world at times. I have to do a double take to remind my self I’m the in US.
Agree, and I have lived in the developing world.
No thanks – some of us actually want our parks to be…parks. You know, where you take your family to enjoy some nature?
If you’re willing to personally finance all of your wonderful ideas and come up with a new venue that doesn’t repurpose public parks and I’m sure you have a winner! You’re so close!
I sure hope your proposal is satire. If not, it’s totally ridiculous.
Ms. Cannon wisely declined the offer, realizing that the homeless authority is set up to fail. It’s a waste of money that should be used to build low-cost, supported housing. More stupid “Seattle process.”