A forensic review found financial failures so serious that some officials want the agency gone.
A forensic audit with serious findings
A forensic investigation into the King County Regional Homelessness Authority has found that the agency cannot account for $13 million in public funds, and the political fallout in Seattle is moving fast. City and county leaders reacted sharply Wednesday after reviewing the findings of a review that examined the agency’s finances from its inception through July 2025.
The investigation was commissioned in August 2025 by the City of Seattle and King County following a string of concerns about the agency, including leadership turnover, delayed payments, findings from the state auditor, unverified accounting of cash advances, and cash flow problems. The review was conducted by a Bellevue-based accounting firm.
Among the findings was a negative cash position of $44.7 million that compounded between December 2023 and July 2025. Investigators also identified an administrative operating deficit of approximately $4.26 million, which included around $1.26 million in interest charges that were not expected to be recovered.
What the audit found inside the KCRHA
The $13 million figure reported by the mayor’s office represents funds the agency was unable to account for. However, the exact breakdown has not been uniformly described across officials. One Seattle city councilmember cited $8 million in unreconciled receivables, describing those as amounts tied to services that were delivered but still require reconciliation in the accounting system. The agency itself broke the figure down into separate categories, including unreconciled receivables, budget reclassifications, and a reporting discrepancy, and said no evidence of fraud or misuse of funds was identified.
KCRHA CEO Kelly Kinnison, who requested the forensic investigation after joining the agency, acknowledged the findings and said the most damaging issues were concentrated during the agency’s early formation period, made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic and the complexity of startup operations. She said many of those problems have since been addressed and that the audit would help guide the next phase of strengthening the agency’s financial systems.
Seattle officials react to the KCRHA audit
The reaction from elected officials was swift and, in some cases, severe. Seattle City Councilmember Maritza Rivera called for the agency to be dismantled entirely, describing what she saw as an egregious mismanagement of public funds and an unacceptable failure of financial accountability. She urged Mayor Katie Wilson to present a plan for the agency’s dissolution and to work with the City Council on how Seattle moves forward in addressing homelessness.
Councilmember Bob Kettle, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, called the findings damning and pointed to consistent leadership failures not just within the agency but also at the city and county level. He said the systemic issues revealed in the audit could no longer be ignored.
King County Councilman Rod Dembowski said he had opposed the creation of the Regional Homelessness Authority from the beginning and called for elected officials to bring what he described as a failed experiment to a close.
Mayor Wilson said she has serious concerns about the agency’s management of city funds and that all options are on the table. Between 2022 and 2024, Seattle and King County supplied more than $260 million toward the agency’s work, with Seattle’s contribution reaching $113 million in 2024 alone.
What comes next for the KCRHA
King County Executive Girmay Zahilay said the county and city have jointly sent a letter to the KCRHA’s chief financial officer demanding a written response outlining how the agency will address multiple high-risk findings. The agency has until May 23, 2026, to provide a corrective action plan with implementation timelines.
The city and county also recommended four immediate steps for the agency’s governing board, including the creation of a financial oversight committee that meets biweekly and reports monthly, a hiring freeze with a documented exception process, a freeze on discretionary spending, and a pause on any new agreements that would increase the agency’s costs or liabilities.
Zahilay said he remains focused on stabilizing the agency and ensuring services continue while determining next steps with partners in the coming weeks.