SEATTLE (AP) - A homelessness and racial-equity consultant from Atlanta has declined an offer from King County leaders to run their Regional Homelessness Authority, county officials said Wednesday.
It is unclear why Regina Cannon declined the offer, The Seattle Times reported. Cannon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the newspaper.
The Regional Homelessness Authority is supposed to get the county on the same page in responding to homelessness. The coronavirus pandemic, the shift to doing public business online, and infighting between suburban leaders and Seattle and the county have slowed the search for a leader.
The authority was planning to hire a CEO by September 2020. Cannon would have been the first employee, who would then hire other employees in the $132-million-budget organization. She was selected by elected leaders, experts, and people who had experienced homelessness.
King County confirmed in a statement that Cannon turned down the position, and said county staff are contacting members of the authority’s implementation board to find a time to reconvene and determine next steps.
The CEO will face the daunting task of trying to bridge the divide between Seattle, which has been paying for most of the region’s homelessness services, and suburban cities, some of which have resisted recent efforts to having homeless shelters or getting them to pay to buy hotels for chronically homeless people.
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