Going into 2021, there will be new faces at the helm of the Human Services Department, the Office of Arts and Culture, and the Office of Emergency Management.
Continue readingTag: HSD
Jason Johnson resigns as HSD Interim Director
Today Jason Johnson resigned as Interim Director of the city’s Human Services Department, effective in June. This follows a disastrous hearing with the City Council on Wednesday that further undermined his credibility and leadership. Erica Barnett broke the story yesterday morning, and provided a full report Saturday morning.
Continue readingEditorial: here’s what the city should do about the Navigation Team
Yesterday afternoon’s Council committee hearing to review the most recent quarterly report for the Navigation Team was nothing short of a bloodbath. You can watch the video here, if you are so inclined, and read Erica Barnett’s summary. In a nutshell: the Human Services Department tried to put lipstick on a pig, obscuring the struggles that the Navigation Team faces. And the Council was having none of it. Prior to yesterday’s meeting, there were already some vocal critics of the Navigation Team, including Council members Sawant and Mosqueda, but the rest of the Council appeared to see the team as …
Continue readingCouncil deliberates on city’s 2020 homelessness spending plan
With a plan in the works to transition to a regional authority to organize the response to the homelessness crisis, yesterday the City Council and a collection of city departments had a public discussion of the Mayor’s proposed homelessness budget for next year.
Continue readingCity reports on performance of homeless response programs in first half of 2019
Yesterday HSD Interim Director Jason Johnson delivered a report to the City Council on the performance of the city’s homeless-response programs through the first half of 2019. There was some good news.
Continue readingCouncil hears quarterly report on the Navigation Team
This morning, the Human Services Department delivered its second-quarter report to the City Council on the Navigation Team. Last fall the Council placed a proviso on the team’s 2019 budget so that it must deliver a report each quarter in order to get the next quarter’s budget released and available to be spent. The Nav Team has been increasing the amount of metrics it tracks and produces, though quite frankly most of the numbers in the report (for January – March) are not terribly insightful — especially since its regular work was suspended for two weeks during the February winter …
Continue readingDurkan withdraws nomination of Jason Johnson as Director of HSD, sort of
This morning, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced that she is withdrawing the nomination of Jason Johnson as permanent Director of the Human Services Department, though he will continue on as interim Director.
Continue readingJason Johnson confirmation hearing cancelled
Tomorrow’s scheduled meeting of the Select Committee on Homelessness and Housing Affordability has been cancelled. The meeting was intended to continue — and perhaps conclude — the confirmation hearings for Jason Johnson’s appointment as Director of the Human Services Department.
Continue readingHSD Director nomination avoids a backslide, but still stuck in neutral
By a 3-5 vote, the Council narrowly defeated Council member Sawant’s effort to send Mayor Durkan’s nomination for HSD Director back to her for a do-over. But that doesn’t mean the nomination has a clear path forward to confirmation.
Continue readingAssessing the city’s homelessness response
Yesterday Mayor Durkan, Interim Human Services Director Jason Johnson, and other city officials briefed the press on the Human Services Department’s (and the city’s) response to the homelessness crisis in 2018, in advance of releasing selected statistics to the public. In addition, HSD delivered its quarterly report to the City Council this morning on the performance of the Navigation Team. This follows a report from the City Auditor’s office earlier this month criticizing HSD and the Navigation Team for aspects of its response. Let’s dive in to the 2018 numbers.
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