King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson announced at a Wednesday press conference a three-step plan to “stabilize, right size, and reset” the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) after a damning forensic audit found the agency was running a $45 million deficit and had lost track of $13 million in funds. The audit was bad enough that a few politicians called to scrap the agency. Wilson and Zahilay have stopped short of that, but the KCRHA as it has functioned since 2021 is no more.
By January, Seattle’s Human Services Department will retake control of more than 100 service provider contracts totaling $118 million, while King County’s Department of Community and Human Services will take over roughly $40 million in contracts.
The KCRHA will continue to manage the region’s 2026 application for $67 million in funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the biennial Point-In-Time survey of homelessness, the Coordinated Entry and Homelessness Management Information systems, and some other regional functions. Last week, the Point-In-Time count found a record 18,400 people were experiencing homelessness in the county on any given night. Nearly two thirds were unsheltered…