(The Center Square) – The King County Regional Homeless Authority is getting some new oversight after a critical forensic audit found it couldn’t track millions of dollars in funds.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and King County Executive Girmay Zahilay are ordering a team of financial professionals to be embedded within the agency.
While lawmakers are weighing whether to dissolve or restructure the agency, Zahilay said the order offers more immediate necessary oversight.
“It’s clear that the agency needs to take more action to stabilize and course correct in the short term,” Zahilay said in a statement on Monday.
Wilson said in her own statement that the financial team was necessary “ensuring that the most vulnerable members of our community receive the shelter, housing, and services they deserve.”
The April audit found $8 million in missing funds that the authority, which has a budget of around $200 million, couldn’t account for.
The authority is the largest initiative in Seattle and King County to provide services for the homeless.
The critical audit of the homeless authority also found the authority ran a negative cash balance as large as $44.7 million and that $4.26 million was lost to administrative overspend, including interest payments that cannot be recovered.
The financial team could be in place quickly.
“We are working with the City of Seattle to install the independent financial consultant by the end of the month,” said Zahilay spokesperson Callie Craighead.
She said the cost of the consulting team has yet to be determined and would be shared between the city and the county.
The audit criticized KCRHA for previously spending $2.96 million on the staffing agency Robert Half to provide a consulting financial team in 2023 and 2024.
“As an example, we compared the Robert Half payments for the interim CFO (Chief Financial Officer)contracted between November 2023 through December 2024 (11 months) and compared that to the cost for that same person and position, who was hired as an employee at the end of the contract,” the audit said.
The audit said KCRHA paid Robert Half $448,497 for the 11-months of the CFO contract. That same person was then hired at a yearly salary of $285,000, it said.
The audit also found no explanation for the expense policy for the unidentified Interim CFO. It said he was being reimbursed $9,019 for lodging, meals, and incidentals for 28 days between September and November 2024.
Both the King County Metropolitan Council and the Seattle City Council have given Zahilay and Wilson until June 15 for an initial decision and Aug. 1 for a final decision regarding the future of the King County Regional Homeless Authority.
Craighead said the interim appointment of a financial team is occurring “while long-term discussions about the future of the regional homeless response are still ongoing with partners.”