Dembowski calls for dissolution of Regional Homeless Authority in wake of devastating new report

Kelly Kinnison, CEO of
KCRHA

According to reporting in The Seattle Times, a financial audit of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, commissioned by Seattle and King County, found the agency lacks the kind of internal controls and oversight over its budget that should be expected of such a large and significant governmental body, and lost track of at least $8 million in public funds.

The Times said,  

"The King County Regional Homelessness Authority’s essential weakness relates to its funding model, which depends heavily on retroactive reimbursements — an approach that leaves the body vulnerable to losing track of dollars and expenses, the audit found. 

"Though the analysis did not find any examples of outright fraud, the accountability was not strong enough to guarantee that would not happen, it said."

King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski is issuing the following statement concerning a new report outlining continued widespread operational and financial failures within the King County Regional Homeless Authority (KCRHA), calling for the agency to be dissolved.

“I was a skeptic of establishing the Regional Homelessness Authority from the beginning and successfully fought to amend the authorizing legislation to ensure that elected officials would remain in control and would oversee its budgets, and that it could be shut down if it failed. It’s now time for elected officials to bring this failed experiment to an end.

"The Authority has had many chances to advance its mission, and has failed miserably, over and over again. The financial review which has been completed is shocking in its findings - overspending, lack of controls, and an inability to show where significant public dollars have been spent. The agency has failed in its core obligation - to make significant progress in getting people sheltered.

"We must return the work of addressing homelessness to the City of Seattle, King County, and our partner cities throughout the region, and eliminate this expensive and ineffective layer of government.”