After an audit found $8 million missing and a $44.7 million deficit at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, the King County Council votes Tuesday to figure out the process to dissolve the authority.
Tuesday, the Council voted unanimously to approve a motion that will have King County Executive Girmay Zahilay update the Council in June and give a full report in August detailing the steps KCRHA is taking to remedy its deficit, find the missing $8 Million, and how it will avoid getting into the same predicament again.
“I came into this knowing that there were some issues. I didn’t think the issues were quite like this, but this is an opportunity to really make the system better. I think we’re seeing that it hasn’t been working,” Steffanie Fian, said the King County Council Member representing District 5, said. She joined the KCRHA board in January.
The motion passed on Tuesday is a follow-up to Councilmember Rod Dembowski introducing legislation last week that would dissolve the KCRHA. In addition to the metrics that Executive Zahilay will present in June and August, it will also explore what dissolving the agency would mean—which responsibilities get picked up by King County, which ones get picked up by the City of Seattle.
“They’d better figure out how they’re going to get the checkbook balanced, and I’d like to also understand what financial controls they are going to put in place.” Dembowski said," We’ve had almost an entire additional year that was not audited, so, how much further in the red are we? What are they going to do to pay us back?
Most public comments on Tuesday came from organizations working in the homelessness sphere, whether service providers, healthcare providers, or other organizations.
“It’s not acceptable to simply go back to the way things were, with each jurisdiction going it alone with their separate processes. We need to determine our next steps together towards a better system.” said Hali Willis, the community policy manager with the King County Coalition on homelessness.
Dembowski believes there have been too many chances given to the KCRHA for it to continue. Fain wants to make sure that King County and Seattle going their own way will lead to better results.
“I’m all about removing layers of bureaucracy, but we also owe a duty to the taxpayers to not be hands-off. I think that’s part of the problem that got us to where we are today is not being invested and holding folks accountable.” Fain said, “So, a balance to strike there for sure.”
Later this week, the KCRHA’s first response to the audit is due to Executive Zahilay and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson.
On May 23, Zahilay and Wilson requested the KCRHA’s corrective actions be given. A vote to dissolve the KCRHA is scheduled for August 26th.
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