Seattle City Council sets August deadline for mayor to sort out King County Regional Homelessness Authority mess

The Seattle City Council has set a date for leaders and Mayor Katie Wilson to chart a path for the city on homelessness in the fallout of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority audit.

The council this week approved a resolution crafted by its Human Services, Labor, and Economic Development Committee members Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Dionne Foster, Debora Juarez, Rob Saka, and District 3 representative and council president Joy Hollingsworth that directs Wilson to immediately safeguard public funds and assess KCRHA’s upcoming corrective action plans.

The resolution calls on the mayor to recommend by August 1st whether the city should restructure KCRHA, continue as is, or terminate the Interlocal Agreement and dissolve the authority entirely.

The May release of the audit has forced contemplation at City Hall as the ongoing homelessness crisis continues. The audit revealed the regional authority has a $44.7 million spending hole with millions unaccounted for. The report found the authority has structural spending issues where expenditures consistently outpaced the reimbursements and funding inflows.

The KCHRA’s budget was proposed as $205 million in 2026 with about 60% coming from Seattle and the rest from the county and state and federal pass-through grants.

The authority was formed as officials pledged the new effort would consolidate efforts to address the homelessness crisis at a broader, more regional level. At one point growing to a $250 million a year effort, KCRHA was officially established in late 2019 through an Interlocal Agreement between the county and the City of Seattle under then-Mayor Jenny Durkan and then-King County Executive Dow Constantine.

A city council fiscal analysis warns that dissolution would force Seattle’s Human Services Department to directly administer hundreds of homeless service contracts again, likely increasing short-term operational costs. City officials emphasize that any transition must be handled carefully to prevent service disruptions for vulnerable populations, noting that a disruption would disproportionately impact underserved communities.

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