The King County Council has closed the barn door. Tuesday, the council approved a motion to “strengthen oversight” of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority and “establish a structured, fact-based process to evaluate its future.”
The motion follows release of an audit showing the regional authority has a $44.7 million spending hole with millions unaccounted for. The audit commissioned by city and county officials last summer as concerns rose around the authority’s finances showed the organization bleeding funds with a negative cash position of $44.7 million.
The report found the authority has structural spending issues where expenditures consistently outpaced the reimbursements and funding inflows.
Tuesday’s motion sponsored by Councilmembers Jorge L. Barón, Steffanie Fain, and Rod Dembowski directs King County Executive Girmay Zahilay to provide a briefing and a comprehensive report by August 1 on the future of the authority.
As part of the effort, the council is calling for a report on “corrective actions taken by the authority in response to the forensic evaluation.”
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.
The authority did not become fully operational until mid-2021 as it struggled to set priorities with funding provided primarily by Seattle despite its regional mandates.
In 2024, former US Department of Health and Human Services policy director Kelly Kinnison was selected as a new CEO to help the KCRHA steer through its financial challenges.
The authority had been without a permanent leader since founding CEO Marc Dones stepped down in 2023 amid criticism of his $11 billion plan for establishing the organization.
The authority reports to a board of 13 non-elected members, including experts in fiscal oversight, healthcare, and affordable housing, as well as individuals with lived experience of homelessness.
“KCRHA was created to bring greater regional coordination and partnership to our homelessness response,” a joint statement on the motion approved this week reads. “That goal remains critical, but we must conduct an honest assessment of what is working, what is not, and what changes may be necessary to ensure the system is delivering results.”
Last year, Seattle began clawing back much of the administration of homelessness resources including outreach from the authority.
Mayor Katie Wilson has sped the city’s move away from the authority including the planned rapid expansion of Tiny House Villages to provide a burst of emergency shelter in Seattle.
For the 2026 budget cycle, Seattle’s proposed allocation to the KCRHA was around $125 million.
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