SEATTLE — A new report highlights $16.7 million that is “unrecoverable” from the embattled King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), compounding issues that were first discovered in April, when $8 million was reported missing and the agency had a deficit of $4.26 million.
The most recent issue, according to the report from Turning Point Strategic Advisors, came from grant money that service providers did not fully spend; thus, it was unearned.
Despite that, KCRHA still budgeted against that money, creating the shortfall. Of that, they overspent more than $5 million of taxpayer money.
“That’s $16, $17 million that should have been spent helping people get sheltered, get housing, get services, and they spent it on bureaucrats and overhead,” King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski said.
In a statement, and in a FAQ section on its website, KCRHA pushed back against descriptions about this money being “overspent” and said that, despite the report coming out in 2026, it did not include finances from 2026.
“We recognize that public trust requires accountability and results. Our focus is on completing the financial reconciliation, addressing the identified deficiencies, and establishing a sustainable and appropriately scaled organization for the responsibilities that remain,” the organization said in a statement to KIRO7 News.
In a joint statement from King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, the two elected leaders said this finding was a result of enhanced financial oversight the governments put in place since the issues first arose in April.
Financial experts in the city say it will likely take years for the city and county to repay the $17 million.
“These findings reinforce why we announced a plan in July to stabilize, right-size, and reset KCRHA,” the leaders said in the statement.
“Next, we will bring regional partners together to chart a stronger path forward. That work must establish clear responsibilities, stronger accountability, and measurable results for people experiencing homelessness and the public.”
Zahilay and Wilson took 75% of KCRHA’s budget in the summer by removing the contracts it has with service providers.
“Now we’re left with an agency that is really too big for what little is left to do there, and it’s my view that we ought to wind it down and bring back those few remaining functions to the city and the county,” Dembowski said.
Dembowski, who represents King County District 1, and Seattle City Councilmember Maritza Rivera introduced resolutions to their respective councils to dissolve the agency within a year.
In a joint statement, KCRHA Governing Board members and Seattle City Councilmembers Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Dionne Foster want to ensure federal money designated for KCRHA is preserved.
“The KCRHA Governing Board should move with urgency to finalize a plan for the agency’s future. At the same time, we know that the dissolution of the agency before knowing the outcome of millions of dollars in federal funding could be catastrophic for our region and push thousands of people back into homelessness across Seattle and King County.”
Dembowski says it’s around $60 million in federal money at stake and believes that process will end in December, during what would be the one-year wind-down of the agency, if its resolution passes.
“We are behind on providing those shelter beds because of this because this money has now we have lost this money and now we’re continuing to lose more money,” Rivera said.