Zahilay at this week’s announcement of the restructuring plan (Image: King County)
King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson are pursuing a restructuring of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority that will significantly alter the organization, shifting it from a massive operations hub into an administrative and planning agency.
“KCRHA was created because homelessness is a regional challenge, and I continue to believe a regional response is the right approach,” Zahilay said in a statement. “But believing in a regional response also means making sure it works. Zahilay and Wilson said their plan is about about “stabilizing KCRHA, right sizing its focus on the work it is best positioned to lead, and resetting the future vision of our system.”
The overhaul plan comes after a troubling April 2026 forensic audit found massive deficiencies in the authority’s financial management, internal controls, and oversight. While KCRHA says it can account for and cover a portion of $4.26 million of “administrative overspend” identified in the audit, officials there say they disagree with findings that identified another $8 million in poorly tracked spending.
CHS reported here on Zahilay and Wilson’s plan to embed an independent financial analyst and services team into KCRHA to help better guide the organization.
The full plan will build on that embedded team with plans to rip out service contract management responsibilities from KCRHA, narrowing the authority’s focus to core administrative tasks like the Point in Time Count, severe weather coordination, and the Coordinated Entry System while also freeing the organization to more efficiently and, hopefully, effectively, pursue federal funding.
By stripping away contract administration, KCRHA is being “right-sized” to mimic more successful programs across the country like those in Houston or New York City.
The responsibility to manage contracts with service providers will return to city and county departments. Under the overhaul effort, a comprehensive Contracts Transfer Plan will be submitted to city and county councils by August 1st with a goal of officially shifting service contracts back to local government departments by January 2027.
