When an independent audit last month found that the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) was running a $45 million deficit, including $13 million in funds unaccounted for or overspent, the public outrage was palpable.
The forensic evaluation was damning, describing KCRHA’s internal accounting processes as “weak” and lacking many basic cost controls. Local officials from across the political spectrum rushed to condemn the agency’s poor financial management and governance.
But as the shock subsides, local politicians face the sober task of figuring out how to fix the bureaucracy of service provision without doing more harm to the Seattle region’s tens of thousands of homeless and housing-insecure residents…