By Erica C. Barnett

The King County Regional Homelessness Authority’s governing board approved the appointment of Kelly Kinnison, a policy director at the US Department of Health and Human Services, as the authority’s new permanent director on Monday evening, after a protracted search in which two of the three finalists withdrew from consideration. The KCRHA has not had a permanent director since its first CEO, Marc Dones, resigned more than a year ago.

Kinnison’s first day as CEO will be August 1.

Darryl Powell, the interim director of the KCRHA, stepped down on Monday, PubliCola has confirmed. Hedda McClendon, the agency’s interim deputy director, will become acting director until Kinnison arrives, according to a memo to KCRHA staff.

Last month, Powell sent a letter to the KCRHA’s implementation board saying he felt the hiring process had been unfairly “politicized” and complaining that “a reporter” (me) found out about comments he made about LGBTQ+ issues during an interview for the $250,000-a-year position, which he said PubliCola took out of context and should never have found out about.

Powell declined to speak to PubliCola about his statements through a KCRHA spokesperson and when we approached him in person.

This is how we described those comments in our coverage:

“Powell, a longtime friend of Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and the mayor’s pick for the interim role, was responding to a question about equity when he reportedly volunteered that he didn’t like the KCRHA’s gender-neutral restrooms and, in general, didn’t get the ‘LGBTQ stuff.’”

In his letter, Powell also raised concerns about the KCRHA’s two-board governing structure and the agency’s ability to act independently, given its reliance on the city of Seattle and King County for funding; this reliance has led the city to increasingly dictate the KCRHA’s spending priorities.

The governing board, which consists mostly of elected officials, voted 8-0-1 (that 1 being an abstention from Seattle City Councilmember Cathy Moore) to confirm Kinnison’s appointment.

“Dr Kinnison alone will not be able to fix the structural challenges we currently see in the in the agency, but I’m confident that she will provide steady leadership much needed staff support and a strategic vision,” King County Councilmember Jorge Barón said after the vote.

But Moore, who recently called for hitting “pause” on the CEO search, said she abstained from the vote because “not because of the candidate in front of us ,who possesses very impressive qualifications,” but because “I believe we are putting the cart before the horse. … I am reluctant to bring on a fourth CEO until we have a consensus on structure, vision and responsibility. This work, in my opinion, can proceed expeditiously without harm to the ongoing work of the agency, and I believe that we owe it to the staff and the community to get it right this time.”