Share’s Housing First director Garrett retires

After 15 years of serving the homeless at Share, Katherine Garrett is retiring. She was honored Thursday evening at the nonprofit’s Fromhold Service Center by her friends, family, co-workers, board members and colleagues at other social service agencies.

Most recently, she worked as the agency’s Housing First director and had an office at Lincoln Place, the 30-unit apartment complex for people who were chronically homeless. She started her tenure at Share as a graveyard-shift case manager, then operated Share House and Share Outreach.

Olivia Resnick, former Housing Solution Center director at the Council for the Homeless, will be the new Housing First director. She has a master’s degree in social work and experience with Housing First programs on the East Coast.

Last year, Garrett received the Iris Award presented by the Clark College Foundation that honors female leaders in Southwest Washington.

“Her passion, vision, strength of character and dedication to the hungry and homeless of our community have profoundly impacted the lives of so many and continue to greatly inspire all who know her,” Diane McWithey, Share’s executive director, said in a news release. “She always put our clients first and her ability to do that with our hardest to serve clients makes her one of my most admired women.”