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A new path in Washington State politics.
Accountabilty
KCRHA is Beyond Repair — It’s a money conduit which does not provide any services.
By Andrea Suarez, (February 1, 2026)
The KCRHA was created in 2019. The intent was for cities in the county to unify their response to the homelessness and chronic addiction crisis under one regional authority. The promise was efficiency, however, the result has been redundancy manifested in a multi-billion dollar project which exists only for its own sake.
It’s key to realize how the agency does not provide any services. The effort only serves as a money conduit between public coffers and service providers. The staff are empowered to grant money to non-profits seeking to solve the homelessness / chronic drug addiction crisis. That’s it.
The Authority is staring at a $4.7 million budget shortfall for 2026. To cope, it has laid off 22% of its staff and erased 15 more vacant positions.
These cuts turn KCRHA into more dead weight than it already is. The people who ensured accountability were the ones hacked off. These are the roles that verify whether providers deliver results, track outcomes, enforce standards to protect public dollars.
Without them, the Authority can’t monitor performance.
A Washington State Auditor’s Office report found material weaknesses in the KCRHA’s financial controls; including tens of millions of dollars in misstated balances. This follows prior federal findings that KCRHA failed to meet basic monitoring requirements.
These are not isolated errors—they reflect a structural problem inside the authority.
The KCRHA has never had stable leadership.
There used to be three boards governing the agency. Local political leaders scuttled what was known as the Implementation Board in an attempt to try and save the hapless project.
The Implementation Board was actually made up of agency staff — allowing the entity to basically govern itself!
It was a good idea to eliminate a board with little accountability. Nevertheless, there are still two boards governing the messy agency.
After six years, the maelstrom has never had an effective CEO, with long periods of leadership-by-caretaker.
Then there’s the staff itself.
Agency bureaucrats have weaponized the complaint process to attack current CEO Kelly Kinnison.
Complaints alleged the CEO attempted to direct-hire two white men into high-paying executive roles (approximately $200,000/year), allegedly passing over qualified internal candidates of color.
As a result, Kinnison was instructed to receive training and participate in executive coaching. The political rehabilitation cost an estimated $67,500 to the agency.
This comes less than a year into Kinnison’s tenure — after a chaotic executive search in which two finalists withdrew. Leadership turnover has become a defining feature of the agency.
Tragic Failure
Homelessness and chronic drug addiction have gotten worse since the KCRHA was established. There have been over 5000 drug OD deaths in King County since 2020. The 2024 King County Point-in-Time count identified 16,385 people experiencing homelessness, a 23% increase from 2022, with roughly 9,800 being unsheltered.
Some estimates suggest the number may be higher, with up to 16,868 people identified in revised 2025 reports, highlighting a persistent crisis and rising numbers.
Better Alternatives
King County’s homelessness response is being held back by the very agency created to coordinate it.
Meanwhile, organizations contracting with government — who are actually housing and serving people — are operating with discipline and efficiency. Based on their most recent IRS Form 990s here is the percentage of overhead with government contractors :
Together, these providers manage nearly $200 million annually with a combined overhead of about 15 percent — strong performance for large human‑services nonprofits. They run thousands of housing units, hundreds of shelter beds, and extensive behavioral‑health and case‑management programs. They already have the financial systems, staffing, and experience to manage public contracts directly.
KCRHA, by contrast, adds a costly layer of administration without demonstrating improved outcomes. Its own budgets show a comparable administrative spending typically in the 8–12 percent range. On a roughly $215–$250 million annual budget, that translates to $17–$30 million in overhead.
Here is my point: If the KCRHA money-conduit were dissolved and contracting returned to Seattle and King County—both of which already maintain procurement, finance, HR, and audit infrastructure — an estimated $7–18 million per year could be redirected to front‑line providers.
That is the equivalent of hundreds of shelter beds, dozens of case managers, or expanded behavioral‑health capacity — without raising taxes or creating new programs.
This is achieved by simply removing the duplicative administrative layer which is all KCRHA really is.
Our region’s homelessness response doesn’t need more bureaucracy. We need a clear, accountable funding pipeline that gets money to the people doing the work. The service providers are ready. The audit record shows KCRHA is not.
It’s time to shut down the King County Regional Homelessness Authority / money conduit and put those dollars where they will actually make a difference.
By Andrea Suarez, A drug and homelessness policy reform advocate.
