Interim leader named to replace outgoing health services director
Housing Authority official Alison King to take over while replacement sought
Long Beach has a new, temporary leader of the Department of Health and Human Services, the city announced Tuesday.
Alison King, the bureau manager of the Long Beach Housing Authority, will act as interim health department director while the city conducts a nationwide search for Director Kelly Colopy's permanent replacement. King's new role will be effective Saturday, the city said.
Colopy announced her exit from Long Beach in late September to take up a similar post in Salt Lake County, Utah, her native state. Her last day in the position, the city said, will be Friday.
City officials will meet with Long Beach's recruiting firm,
Wendi Brown Creative Partners, in early November to plan the search and lay out a proposed timeline for the process, Human Resources Department Director Joe Ambrosini said in a Tuesday email.
“It is estimated,” Ambrosini said, “that the recruitment will take at least a few months from now to be completed.”
King has worked with the city's Housing Authority since 2005, according to the announcement, filling various positions during her tenure before being named bureau manager in 2016.
“King is an accomplished housing administrator and forwardthinking visionary dedicated to creating safe, comfortable and affordable living opportunities,” City Manager Tom Modica said in the announcement. “With her knowledge base and compassion, I am confident in her abilities to lead the health department during this time.”
Throughout her time at the Housing Authority, King oversaw a $110 million budget used to subsidize rental housing for more than 7,000 Long Beach residents, the news release said.
The bureau, under King's leadership, has awarded more than 900 housing vouchers, 10 affordable housing development contracts, and commitments to nine additional housing developments
that will create 400 new units of housing in the next year, the city said.
King has also focused her efforts on Long Beach's emergency housing voucher program, which helped connect 582 voucher holders with permanent housing since the City Council declared a local homelessness emergency in January.
“I look forward to continuing the great work of our city's health department,” King said in the announcement, “as we work to create a sustainable, inclusive and thriving Long Beach.”
King will have a $210,000 salary, Ambrosini said, broken down by biweekly pay periods for the duration of her time in the role.