King County Executive Dow Constantine, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus announced the membership of One Table – a high-level work group with an aggressive timeline for developing community action steps to confront the root causes of homelessness.

The group had its inaugural meeting on Monday.

“To truly get the upper hand on homelessness, we must be more focused on preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place,” said Constantine said in a Jan. 19 county news release. “With One Table, we are convening regional leaders who can help find the answers and unite the community to take on the many root causes of this crisis.”

“The convening of the One Table task force is a critical piece in addressing the homelessness crisis facing our region,” Backus said. “By calling together experts and leaders from every sector of our community, we will be able to share ideas and proven solutions that we can draw on collectively. I look forward to the opportunity to work together to create a strategic path forward in addressing this challenge.”

Members from Kent include Mayor Dana Ralph, School District Superintendent Calvin Watts and Kent Youth and Family Services Executive Director Mike Heinisch.

One Table work group meetings are scheduled through April.

Members will work together to create scalable strategies for preventing homelessness and develop specific recommendations regarding five root causes of the crisis, including:

• The lack of affordable housing region-wide

• Inadequate access to behavioral health treatment

• Negative impacts on youth involved in the child-welfare system

• Prior criminal justice involvement impacting the ability to gain housing and employment

• Education and employment gaps making housing unattainable and unaffordable

Composed of city and county leaders in business, politics, nonprofits, and service provision, many of whom have extensive experience with housing and homelessness issues or have experienced homelessness themselves, One Table members include:

Co-Chair Nancy Backus, Auburn Mayor

Co-Chair Dow Constantine, King County Executive

Co-Chair Jenny Durkan, Seattle Mayor

Hamdi Abdulle, Somali Youth and Family Club

Joanne Alcantara, API Chaya

Sally Bagshaw, Seattle City Council

Connie Ballmer, Ballmer Group

Caleb Banta-Green, University of Washington

Don Blakeney, Downtown Seattle Association

Jan Bolerjack, Riverton United Methodist Church

Kelle Brown, Plymouth Church

Molly Carney, Evergreen Treatment Services

Chris Cates, REACH (Evergreen Treatment Services)

Ana Mari Cauce, University of Washington

John Chelminiak, Bellevue Mayor

Frank Chopp, Speaker of the Washington State House of Representatives

Debbie Christian, Auburn Food Bank

Maud Daudon, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce

Deanna Dawson, Sound Cities Association

Rod Dembowski, King County Council

Dan Dixon, Providence Health & Services

Colleen Echohawk, Chief Seattle Club

Alison Eisinger, Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness

Frank Foti, Vigor Industrial

Nick Hanauer, Civic Ventures

Patricia Hayden, YWCA Seattle-King-Snohomish

Mike Heinisch, Kent Youth and Family Services

Rex Hohlbein, BLOCK Project

Katie Hong, Raikes Foundation

Steve Hooper, Kigo Kitchen

Jane Hopkins, SEIU 1199

Lisa Howard, Alliance for Pioneer Square

Helen Howell, Building Changes

Laura Inveen, King County Superior Court Judge

Megan Karch, FareStart

Jeanne Kohl-Welles, King County Council

Paul Lambros, Plymouth Housing Group

Sharayah Lane, All Home Consumer Advisory Council

Annie Lee, Team Child

Sara Levin, United Way of King County

Julie Lindberg, Molina Healthcare

Laurie Lippold, Partners for Our Children

Andrew Lofton, Seattle Housing Authority

Esther Lucero, Seattle Indian Health Board

Joe McDermott, King County Council Chair

Gordon McHenry, Solid Ground

Tony Mestres, Seattle Foundation

Kolin Min, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Denise Moriguchi, Uwajimaya

Teresa Mosqueda, Seattle City Council

Sharon Nelson, Majority Leader of the Washington State Senate

Ariyetta Nelson

Stephen Norman, King County Housing Authority

Daniel Pitasky, Schultz Family Foundation

Shelly Pricco, Nexus Youth and Families

Ed Prince, Renton City Council President

Mark Putnam, Accelerator YMCA

Dana Ralph, Kent Mayor

Spencer Rascoff, Zillow

Dave Rodriquez, Plymouth Housing Group

John Schoettler, Amazon

Mary Snapp, Microsoft

Dave Stewart, Vulcan

Milena Stott, Valley Cities Behavioral Health Care

Kenny Stuart, Seattle Firefighters Union IAFF #27

César Torres, Northwest Justice Project

Laura Van Tosh, Seattle Area Support Groups

Shari Wade, All Home Consumer Advisory Council

Amy Walen, Kirkland Mayor

Joshua Wallace, Seattle Area Support Groups

Sally Watkins, Washington State Nurses Association

Calvin Watts, Kent School Superintendent

John Arthur Wilson, King County Assessor

Danielle Winslow, All Home

Hilary Young, Pioneer Human Services