Are we witnessing the “beginning of the end” for KCRHA?

A Seattle Times report reveals that political support for the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) continues to erode as such former advocates as King County Executive Dow Constantine, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, and King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci, are being very cautious about its future.

But before we get to that, let’s recap the recent history and failings of the KCRHA:

• Despite annual regional spending of more than a billion dollars on the issue, there was a 23% increase in homelessness since 2022 in King County.
• More people died in homelessness in 2022 (310) than KCRHA placed into permanent housing (just under 200).
• Major Seattle employers (Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, etc.) joined KCRHA to fund Partnership for Zero which promised to quickly end homelessness in Downtown Seattle. The program folded after less than 2 years with more than 1,000 people remaining homeless in Seattle’s retail core.
• Discovery Institute report that there is little or no accounting for money KCRHA sends to community groups, and it costs the Authority nine times as much as a private charity to house individuals.
• Multiple audits by state and local officials confirmed service providers complaints that KCRHA often paid invoices many months late and that its financial records were incomplete and disorganized.
• A $3.6 million payout to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by three KCRHA employees (including the Interim CEO).
• Seattle’s powerful neighborhood organizations growing frustration at the lengthy process KCRHA takes to remove drug and crime field encampments, even those next to elementary schools.

The recent Times article quotes each of the three political leaders (each serves on KCRHA’s Governing Committee) who have been strong advocates of KCRHA. Each quote reflects the politician’s concerns over lack of any success with the authority.

• Seattle Mayor Harrell gave a lukewarm endorsement when he said, “I’m not ready to scrap it.”
• King County Councilmember Balducci responding to questions about KCRHA’s declining support replied, “I do think we’re running out of runway. I don’t think the authority can afford more misses.”
• County Executive Constantine, who is considered KCRHA’s strongest advocate, surprisingly condemned the actions of its leaders after they criticized actions taken by the City of Burien to impose a stronger camping ban. He said, “It’s not really appropriate for this sort of collectively hired employee (i.e. bureaucrat) to go and start pushing back on a mayor or city council.” (This is an odd wrinkle in Constantine’s ongoing battle with the City of Burien.)

The latest concerns from elected official come just a few weeks after two of the three finalists to become new CEO, pulled out of the process with both citing organizational redundancy and too much oversite as the reason for not wanting the position.

Also, many of the authority’s top positions are currently vacant due to the year-long process to find a new CEO and workers being concerned about the stability of a job with a government agency where they are being micro-managed by political leaders.

This poses a Catch-22 for KCRHA. Because of growing voter frustrations over the repetitive failures on the homeless issue, political figures are putting more pressure on the authority. Yet this pressure is creating a dysfunctional work environment and is keeping qualified candidates from seeking or accepting jobs.

Public pressure is mounting. Taxpayers are frustrated that an endless amount of public money is being wasted as more and more suffering is continues to take place. And while the KCHRA has removed direct accountability for the homeless crisis away from a specific politician or political entity, such longtime political advocates as Executive Constantine, Mayor Harrell, and Councilmember Balducci now appear to be distancing themselves away from the mess they created.

It’s incredibly difficult to find much of any success stories from the KRCHA in its three-year history, and incredibly easy to find examples of incompetence, a lack of transparency, and woeful misallocation of taxpayer resources. This Seattle Times report feels like the beginning of the end for the agency, but really, it should be the end of the end.

There are too many people that need help too urgently to wait any longer on the slim chance that the KRCHA can turn things around.