Last week King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced a proposal to scrap the King County Regional Homelessness Authority’s (KCRHA) Implementation Board, the 13-person committee of “experience in the housing and homelessness fields” which shares responsibility for managing the much-maligned authority.

According to the proposal, nearly all of the board’s responsibilities will be transferred to the 12-member Governing Committee, which consists of nine local elected officials and three people with the lived experience of being homeless.

There has been no mention of any changes to be made to the federally mandated Continuum of Care Board, which also has oversight on many of KCRHA’s activities.

The original purpose for the Implementation Board was to have hand-picked “experts” provide political cover for the politicians on the Governing Board and to garner initial support for KCRHA’s creation from key special interest groups by including representatives in the authority’s governing process.

Yet during its initial two years of existence, KCRHA staff, vendors, and officials, began to complain that it was unproductive having multiple boards overseeing activities.  Two of the three finalists to become the authority’s new CEO, pulled their name from consideration citing having multiple governing boards as the primary reason for their withdrawal.

Removing the Implementation Board is an obvious choice to streamline the decision-making process, yet is this the only step that needs to be taken to reduce homelessness in the region?

Since the November 2015 emergency declaration of homelessness by Executive Constantine and then Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, there have been two constants in the governments approach to the problem – Dow Constantine leading King County and an obviously flawed “Housing First” philosophy.

The Housing First belief, which Constantine strongly supports, subscribes to the belief that housing cost is the primary cause of homelessness and if a person receives shelter, their other issues, such as addiction and mental illness, can be treated. Thus “low barrier” housing (where residents do not need to be clean and sober) is offered to bring people off the streets.

Yet the promised mental health and addiction treatments are never offered, and the formerly homeless individuals continue their self-destructive path of abusing dangerous drugs. Instead of overdosing on a street corner or in an encampment, they are now dying in their garbage filled rooms using drug tools given to them by King County Public Health as part of their “harm reduction” drug philosophy (which is often implemented by the same folks who subscribe to housing first homeless viewpoint).

Tragically, 2023 saw a record-breaking 421 homeless people die in the county, both on the streets and in temporary public housing.

The permissive attitude towards homelessness and illegal drug use is one of the primary reasons for why, despite spending billions annually on the local homeless problem, homelessness figures continue to climb every year. When Constantine and Murray declared homelessness an emergency nearly a decade ago, there were 10,057 homeless people in the county. Today, after massive financial outlays from every level of government, non-profit charities, religious organizations, and the private sector, there are currently 16,385 people without permanent shelter in King County – an incredible 63% increase under the Housing First strategy!

Simply put, Housing First is a failed homeless policy and it needs to be abandoned.

If Mayor Harrell and Executive Constantine really want to make effective changes to reduce homelessness, they would call for the end of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority and the failed Housing First philosophy it is mandated to follow. While it is smart to streamline the process by removing duplicate committees, making quick decisions is meaningless if the dominating philosophy is faulty. Rushing to make a mistake is not better than simply making the mistake.

People are right to be frustrated by the growth of homelessness in King County. After a decade of cruel failure, regional leaders must do what will help those suffering on the streets. The best way to do that is to cease the operation of the expensive and ineffective KCRHA and its failed Housing First philosophy.