<img src="https://komonews.com/resources/media2/16×9/860/400/0x1/80/5a2c321a-6c7c-43e3-b65c-3a5565d1e7fc-IMG_8538860x484.jpg" alt="An image of Councilmember Rivera and King County Councilmember Dembowski during an April 23, 2026 news conference to issue companion resolutions calling for the dissolution of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. (Seattle City Council Blog) ” loading=”lazy”>
The Ballard neighborhood is the location of several sprawling homeless encampments, some of which take up entire city blocks. (KOMO)
SEATTLE —There are renewed calls to end the King County Regional Homelessness Authorityafter an outside audit found millions of dollars in unrecoverable funds.
KCRHA’s shortfall is estimated at $16.7 million after accounting for expected funding, and neither the County nor the City said Thursday that it knew how it would handle the multi-million-dollar loss.
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The report, prepared by Turning Point Strategic Advisors for Seattle and King County, reconciled KCRHA’s cash and accounts receivable from the agency’s creation in 2021 through July 2026.
The findings prompted Seattle Councilmember Maritza Rivera and King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski to renew calls to dissolve the agency.
Rivera said the new information reinforced her call for dissolution.
“It’s time to entirely dissolve the agency,” Rivera said. She also called for stronger oversight of city contracts, saying, “when we don’t perform this critical oversight, we pay for it.”
Dembowski said the findings showed KCRHA had overspent on administration and incurred millions in interest.
He said the new information contradicted earlier representations that missing money was likely tied to services that had been delivered but not billed.
“The magnitude of the mismanagement and dereliction of duty in terms of oversight of the Agency is truly outrageous,” Dembowski said.
King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn also supports the dissolution of the agency, “If we want to truly reduce homelessness and help those on our streets who desperately need assistance, rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic isn’t enough. We must reverse our failed policies, restore accountability to taxpayer spending, and end the failed experiment that is KCRHA.”
Dunn added, “Once again, King County residents will be asked to foot the bill to cover for bureaucratic and financial mismanagement at KCRHA. Amidst the agency’s repeated administrative mistakes, we shouldn’t forget that our region’s homelessness policies have failed the most vulnerable among us.”
King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said the city and county are working together on repayment while seeking to protect homelessness services.
In a joint statement, they called the unrecoverable balance “unacceptable” and said the reconciliation was an important step toward a reliable accounting of KCRHA’s finances.
They said they have required corrective action, brought in independent monitoring and added approval requirements for hiring, discretionary spending and new financial commitments.
Their plan, announced in July, calls for stabilizing and reducing KCRHA’s scope while returning administration of locally funded service contracts to the city and county beginning in January 2027.
The city’s Human Services Department and the county’s Department of Community and Human Services are preparing for that transition.
Officials said regional conversations about the future of the homelessness response are expected in the coming months.
KCRHA’s governing board is also expected to discuss the finances and agency staffing at a meeting in early November.
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