Homeless Industrial Complex

Burien Leaders Stunned Late Monday evening, Mayor Kevin Schilling, Deputy Mayor Stephanie Mora, CM Linda Akey, and CM Alex Andrade saw the tent protest for the first time outside City Hall. Mora and Akey say former Burien City Councilmember Cydney Moore is using the homeless as political pawns after her failed venture trying to run the temporary encampment behind Oasis Home Church. She’s also being called out for orchestrating this stunt from the comfort of her living room. I have never seen someone’s reputation and credibility get smashed in such a short amount of time. Moore will likely never work again in this region’s homeless space. They’re Back After leaving during the day, the homeless have set up tents again Read More ›

Homeless Industrial Complex As I pointed out on Thursday, Plymouth Housing’s (@PlymouthHousing) website says the Kenmore facility is opening in 2025. Problem is, it hasn’t been approved by the city council. Based on last night’s vote, it’s likely toast. So I asked Plymouth CEO Karen Lee why her non-profit would take this presumptive posture. She declined to answer all my questions, including the one about failures of “housing first.” As I tried to squeeze in more questions, one of her handlers blocked my path and bumped me numerous times. It got so heated, a Kenmore cop had to intervene. Bottom line, the public must demand more transparency from all homeless non-profits. In my experience covering this beat, the ones that Read More ›

Post Mortem Even before Marc Dones abruptly resigned on Tuesday as CEO of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (@KingCoRHA), the agency was under heavy scrutiny for it’s performance or lack thereof. Questions were being raised about spending and salaries, especially after Dones asked for $12 billion dollars to fund housing in the region. As Helen Howell becomes interim CEO, the KCRHA Governing Committee and other boards have a lot of soul searching to do. Do they stay the course and stick to the framework left by Dones, or is it time for a total gut rehab? Clearly, the “HOUSING FIRST” strategy is not working. The public is asking for more transparency and accountability, like actual measures of success and Read More ›