I often tell nonprofit boards that I work with "nonprofit governance is not inherently intuitive. We must learn the ropes through experience and training." The following article is a case study that illustrates my point. Few within this board had the training, orientation or experience in governing. And the result....read on.
Regional Homelessness Authority clamps down on dysfunctional board
Since its inception two years ago, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority has pushed to involve more homeless people in its decision making based on the idea that they have used the system, experienced its flaws, and know what it needs.
As the authority started up, the federally required Continuum of Care board was reshaped to be mostly composed of homeless or formerly homeless people. Its members will oversee an application for more than $50 million in federal homelessness funding later this year, about a quarter of the money that passes through the authority.
But, so far, this board has struggled.
In May, a co-chair shouted at another member for raising concerns that a board applicant was a sex offender who had once touched her inappropriately. Other board members say the incident, which drew international media attention, was not atypical. They say meetings are often dysfunctional and filled with uncontrolled rants.
Members have other complaints, too. Some feel they are taken for granted by the authority, used as a rubber stamp for decisions made by others. And some say they don’t know what they’re supposed to be doing.
After seeing the board in action, one mayor questioned whether too many board seats have gone to people who’ve experienced homelessness at the expense of others involved in the system. Experts in this field say this board as constituted could succeed, if the authority offered more support.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has already stepped in, hiring a consultant to get the board back on track. The Regional Homelessness Authority has also recently added staff. Both organizations declined an interview.
Even with all of these significant changes, one thing remains — the new board, like the one it replaces, is composed largely of people who know what it is like to be homeless.
Why this board exists
HUD requires communities that receive federal homelessness funding to have a Continuum of Care board. It does not oversee the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, but it’s supposed to offer advice to its other two main boards.
This board’s primary function is to oversee an application process that could net over $50 million in federal funding, including voting on which projects should get that money.
The Continuum of Care board, which has been in operation since long before the Regional Homelessness Authority was created, was previously administered by All Home, the former regional coordinating agency for homelessness services in King County.
What Continuum of Care means
A Continuum of Care is a group that includes representatives of the myriad organizations and individuals in a region addressing homelessness such as service providers, local governments, housing agencies, health providers, faith-based organizations, advocates and people experiencing homelessness. King County’s Continuum of Care includes about 160 members.
The board oversees and represents the entire Continuum of Care, which is tasked with federal requirements like managing the data system on homeless individuals that service providers share; conducting the Point-in-Time Count, a one-day snapshot count of homelessness; and managing the system to prioritize who gets to move into housing from streets and shelters.
How meetings turned toxic
Since 2021, 11 of the Continuum of Care board’s 19 members have left, some citing a toxic work environment and others saying it was a drain on their time without producing any meaningful results.
Its May meeting exemplified those issues. The board was considering nominations to fill open positions, and a sitting board member, Kristina Sawyckyj, said one applicant was a convicted sex offender who had touched her inappropriately. That applicant has since withdrawn. The Regional Homelessness Authority said it does not conduct background checks on potential board members.
Board co-chair Shanéé Colston began shouting at Sawyckyj saying she had “no right to out anybody in this space.”
“Actually I’m glad that if that is the case that he’s here because sex offenders are another population that is most vulnerable that don’t have housing,” Colston said.
Several board members asked Colston to get the meeting back on the agenda to which Colston continued yelling and replied, “No, I’m telling you, I’m not moving on as the co-chair.”
Board members say this was not an isolated incident. Sawyckyj said that some board members verbally “attack” Regional Homelessness Authority staff, creating an atmosphere that feels unsafe.
“These meetings are toxic, they’re unhealthy,” Sawyckyj said. “They’re not conducive to my unhoused neighbors out there.”
Former board member Robin Tatsuda said every meeting was derailed by rants and complaints, spending only a fraction of the time on the agenda. After serving on the board for two years, she left in February.
“It never felt like it was actually doing anything,” Tatsuda said. “I just constantly felt like I didn’t know who’s running the show.”
Some board members suggested authority staff should step in when meetings get off track. The authority said its staff members are there only to provide administrative support and that the board’s co-chairs were responsible for guiding meetings. Board co-chairs Marvin Futrell and Colston did not respond to requests for an interview.
Authority clamps down
After the May meeting, agency staff formally requested Colston resign.
Some, including Sawyckyj who was yelled at by Colston, feel that focusing entirely on personnel ignores structural issues.
“Do I think to call for someone’s resignation is the answer? I don’t think that’s the answer,” said Sawyckyj. “I think she needs some support in what she does. I think she needs some training.”
Sawyckyj also said the authority should bring in a third-party conflict mediator like the nonprofit Center for Dialog and Resolution which she said has been brought in to help with other troubled boards she sits on.
Before the Friday meeting, authority interim CEO Helen Howell released a joint statement with governing committee members saying, “we feel that new leadership and culture is vital to refocusing the CoC Board on fulfillment of its primary functions.”
Since Colston wasn’t on the slate, her time leading this board will end.
Lived experience on the board
Before 2021, the people who served on the Continuum of Care board were primarily government officials and service provider leaders. As the Regional Homelessness Authority took over, a selection committee formed by the authority’s predecessor, All Home, gave 13 out of 19 board seats to people who had “lived experience” of homelessness.
On Friday, Continuum of Care members voted in 14 new board members, 13 of whom have experienced homelessness. A significant number also work as service providers or advocates or represent other groups.
Other cities like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago have less than 25% of their board representing those who are homeless or formerly homeless.
Federal rules require Continuum of Care boards to have at least one member who is homeless or formerly homeless. HUD recommends that the remaining seats are filled by other representatives from the Continuum of Care like elected officials, service providers, faith-based organizations and housing agencies.
Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus had served on the Continuum of Care board years ago. She said that while it’s important to center lived experience, the high concentration of people who are homeless or formerly homeless on the board may be drowning out other perspectives.
Lack of support
Homelessness experts say the dysfunction is likely due less to who is on the board and more to the level of support they receive.
“It doesn’t matter whether they’re people with lived experience or not. If you don’t start with structure in the beginning, then it’s going to be challenging,” said Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.
As opposed to elected officials and leaders of nonprofit organizations, people who represent the lived experience of homelessness are less likely to have served on boards or worked on federal funding applications.
Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said board members should be trained on what the Continuum of Care is, where the funding comes from, where it goes, and data on the state of homelessness in their community.
Current and former board members said they received no such training although the Regional Homelessness Authority disputes that.
At an October meeting, authority staff asked board members to vote on an application for federal funding. Board members interrupted the staff’s presentation saying they didn’t understand what they were voting on. The board eventually decided to vote in favor of the application but several members issued a warning to the authority.
“This is the end of assuming that we are going to be a rubber stamp,” said Ben Miksch, a former member of the board who left in February.
In an interview, former board member Tatsuda said, “It was never clear sort of what my purpose was on the board or really truly what the board’s purpose was.”
“We were left to flounder without knowing what we were supposed to do,” said another board member Kristi Hamilton.
Support for the board appears to be improving. The Regional Homelessness Authority said the new board members voted in Friday will receive in-depth onboarding and any current members will be encouraged to attend. HUD also hired a consultant to help the authority with that training.
In February, the authority hired a staff person, Eli Griffin, specifically to work with board members. At the May meeting after the yelling died down, Griffin provided a presentation on what the Continuum of Care is and how it fits in with the Regional Homelessness Authority’s structure.
“ [The King County Regional Regional Homelessness Authority] recognized that what was currently being done wasn’t working,” said Griffin, the authority’s Continuum of Care coordinator.
In that meeting, Hamilton said she appreciated the information, but asked why it came two years after the Regional Homelessness Authority took over administration of the Continuum of Care board.