Does Seattle's budget move signal a big change on regional homelessness response?

SEATTLE — The city of Seattle is taking back money from the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), raising national questions about the future of the city’s support for the agency given the mayor’s public frustration over how it's working.

On Thursday, elected leaders were careful not to comment on the letter that started leaking out the day before.

In the letter dated Feb. 16, Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) Director Tanya Kim wrote to the KCRHA’s interim director:

“Thank you for your continued commitment to ending homelessness in King County and your partnership with the city of Seattle in building a stronger regional approach. We would like to inform you about upcoming changes to the City’s funding for the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) budget within two program areas.

"Homelessness Prevention: Beginning Q3 2024, the City will transfer oversight of all City-funded Homelessness Prevention contracts (approximately $4.2 million annually) back to the Seattle Human Services Department (HSD). This shift aligns with HSD’s role in leading upstream housing and community stability efforts, while RHA continues leading the emergency homelessness response system. In addition, this brings Seattle into alignment with King County, whose prevention efforts remained at the Department of Community and Human Services and did not transfer to KCRHA in 2022.

"Outreach: Beginning Q1 2025, the City will transfer oversight of all outreach funding (approximately $7.5M annually) back to HSD in an effort to carefully examine how outreach investments align to the evolving needs of the city and ensure effective use of City funding in meeting desired outcomes. We remain committed to achieving our goal of providing meaningful connections to services and shelter placements for our unhoused neighbors, while realigning resources with current needs and priorities.”

That $11.7 million is around 10% of the money the city sends to the KCRHA annually.

As KOMO previously reported, Seattle has spent more than a $1 billion on homelessness, only as the number of unsheltered people grew.

Harrell, in multiple interviews since the start of this year, said he was taking a hard look at the funding of the organization and what it was doing with the money.

Harrell’s office said he was unavailable for comment on Thursday.

Council member Cathy Moore, who leads the human services committee, released a statement, which read in part:

“This move should allow KCRHA to focus on emergency response and will give HSD greater ability to ensure homelessness outreach is meeting desired outcomes. This system mirrors the County approach, as King County oversees their own prevention efforts. I firmly believe ameliorating homelessness is a regional responsibility. Nevertheless, it is still critical for Seattle, the region’s biggest funder, to be actively assessing the region’s homelessness response to ensure it is working as efficiently as possible.”

The KCRHA released a short statement about the redirecting of the money:

“We've been made aware of the upcoming changes to the City's funding of KCRHA. We're working to understand likely impacts on our provider community, unhoused neighbors, and how we address the homelessness crisis in King County.”

Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson said the money was a council budget action that she opposed, and now that she has a seat at the table with the KCRHA board she will be examining each and every line item.

I wouldn't necessarily call it skepticism," Nelson said. "I just call it accountability and oversight. We have to do that. That's taxpayer money. We need to make sure it's being spent the way it should be and for the dollars that are going to KCRHA, we better make damn sure that it's being spent wisely.

City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth, who is newly elected and in charge of the parks committee, echoed some of the concerns expressed by Nelson.

“We know that we've taken some bumps,” Hollingsworth acknowledged, while also suggesting recent leadership changes may be a positive. “It's transparency, it's accountability. It's good governance. I trust that the people that are in these leadership positions are making the best decisions as they see forward to ensure that those dollars can be well spent."

When asked whether the regional effort should continue to be funded at the same level, Hollingsworth replied, “I do believe we should continue to fund it. At what levels? I don't know. I know that's going to be a conversation.”