The Council for the Homeless’ executive director announced Wednesday she intends on leaving the nonprofit after aiding in its expansive reach to people experiencing houselessness within Clark County.
Kate Budd, executive director of Council for the Homeless, is leaving her position of five years at the end of November to be closer to her family.
“If COVID has taught me anything, it’s that time cannot be taken for granted,” Budd said.
She will assume a new role in Lane County, Ore., and work in its health and human services department with homeless and community action programs. The work is in the same realm of what Budd does with Council for the Homeless, she said, and she will oversee similar programs.
Budd said her biggest takeaway during her experience was witnessing the agency grow.
There was an increase of permanent housing programs, grants, community partnerships and shelter beds, to name a few, she said. Council for the Homeless’ transformation was bolstered through its unity within Clark County and those it helped.
“Having a myriad of strong groups and advocates strengthened our community to address homelessness,” Budd said. “The most successful efforts were the ones that had considerable collaborations.”
In 2021, the group answered more than one million phone calls and provided more than $7 million in rental assistance to about 2,000 households. Budd said the Council for the Homeless expanded its outreach in county.
It implemented initiatives, such as Housing Initiative LLC, to move homeless people into permanent housing. The program moved more than 60 people into a trauma-informed complex at the height of the pandemic.
Collaboration is at the forefront of the agency’s values, she said, which enabled Council of the Homeless staff to reach more groups, such as Black, Indigenous and people of color and members of the LGBTQ community. The number of program partners nearly doubled to more than 80 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The organization’s board of directors is in the process of determining who will fill an interim position until they find a permanent director, said Adrienne Strehlow, the board president. They will form a task force with the temporary director to identify what qualities they want to see in the permanent position.
In the meantime, Council for the Homeless will be able to withstand a leadership change because it has a solid foundation that Budd invested a lot in fostering, she said.
“She’s given her all to helping people experiencing homelessness,” Strehlow said. “Kate has impacted this community in ways we will feel for a long time in the community.”
The agency’s budget, staffing programs and community connections experienced immense developments under Budd’s leadership. She managed and strengthened the organization through its recruiting, training and programs to make it sustainable and sound, she said.
Most of all, Budd’s greatest talent was her ability to cultivate lasting relationships within the organization and with people experiencing houselessness, Strehlow said.
“She wants people to know she values them and goes out of her way to do that. That’s something you can’t teach,” she said. “She makes you feel special.”
