The King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) left about $260 million in available funding unspent while running up a deficit of nearly $17 million, according to a review released earlier this month. King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski said that failure cost people their lives.
“Homelessness has doubled during the six years,” Dembowski said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “People have died. These funds, had they been deployed on the streets to acquire housing, to acquire shelter, to acquire services, they wouldn’t have died. That is not a stretch.”
Dembowski chairs the county’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee and has called the review’s findings an operational disaster. KIRO host Gee Scott told him he doubts that closing the agency would fix the problem. Dembowski said Gee’s skepticism is justified, but giving up isn’t an option…