Seattle and King County are moving to dramatically scale back the agency that has led the region's response to homelessness, marking one of the most significant shake-ups since the body was created. The decision follows an audit that raised serious questions about how the agency handled public money.
On Wednesday, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson jointly announced a plan to stabilize and reset the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. Officials described the move as a set of significant changes to how the region delivers its response to homelessness.
The authority was established in 2019 with the task of solving the region's homelessness crisis. But officials noted that rates of homelessness have continued to climb since then, even as the agency faced repeated scrutiny.
Concerns came to a head with a recent independent forensic evaluation. The review identified serious problems related to financial management, governance and internal controls, and found roughly $13 million in spending that could not be accounted for.
The audit also pointed to a broader shortfall, describing a negative cash position of about $44.7 million. The agency has been mired in controversy for years, marked by significant leadership turnover and multiple prior audits.
Under the new plan, the city and county will take control of all local homelessness contracts. Those local agreements — roughly $118 million from the City of Seattle and $40 million from King County — had made up the bulk of the authority's budget.
The takeover of local contracts is set for January 2027, which would leave the authority operating largely on its federal funding of about $67 million. Officials framed the overhaul as an effort to restore accountability while keeping services running for people in need.