Dear We Are In community,

Today, We Are In partner Marc Dones announced their resignation from their position as the inaugural CEO of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCHRA). We are deeply grateful to Marc for the energy, vision, and heart that they brought to the movement to prevent and end homelessness in our region.

Under Marc’s leadership, the KCRHA moved from a concept established by King County and the City of Seattle, with strong support from We Are In, in the Regional Action Framework on Homelessness to a tremendously impactful organization leading coordinating, funding, and policy for homeless response services in King County. The KCRHA was formed to end decades of fragmentation in the homeless response system, with the ultimate goal of ending homelessness for all. In the two years Marc has led the KCRHA, we’ve seen tremendous progress in these efforts. Dones’ leadership has made a lasting impact on KCRHA and the homeless services community in King County by:

– Successfully moving more than 5,600 individuals, couples, youth, and families experiencing homelessness into permanent housing.

– Distributing President Biden’s Emergency Housing Vouchers at twice the rate of the national average.

– Launching Partnership for Zero and establishing the Housing Command Center to streamline the critical services needed to move people into emergency shelter and housing in Downtown Seattle.

– Giving folks with lived experience of homelessness a seat at every decision-making table, improving our outreach and data collection, and unifying what was a previously fragmented response system.

– Diligently reframing narratives about homelessness to focus on root causes and decades of systemic policy choices, while promoting hope that we can make different policy choices to get different outcomes.

This work is far from done, but Marc leaves KCRHA in a strong position to continue its critical work. We look forward to working with interim CEO Helen Howell as KCRHA moves to hire a new permanent CEO worthy of the community the KCRHA serves. Helen Howell has served as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of KCRHA since September 2021. Prior to that position, she held senior leadership positions at the City of Seattle’s Human Services Department, King County Housing Authority, Building Changes, and the Pierce County Human Services Department.

We wish Marc the absolute best in all of their future plans and endeavors, and are excited for the path ahead for KCRHA.

Onward,
Felicia Salcedo