Audit: $16.7M at King County Homelessness Authority Unaccounted For; Council to Question Agency Thursday
SEATTLE, Washington — In Seattle, King County, Washington, an independent audit has found that $16.7 million in public funds at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) cannot be accounted for and is likely unrecoverable, with the agency running an overall deficit of $44.7 million, local media reported on October 22. The audit attributed the problems to persistent financial mismanagement but found no evidence of fraud. The agency's head is due before the county council's administration and finance committee on Thursday, where members will demand an explanation of what the money was spent on and why the agency itself cannot say. Committee chair Rod Dembowski criticized the findings as a failure of both management and oversight, noting that the number of unsheltered homeless people has doubled during the authority's operation. Some local officials have called for dissolving the agency, but County Executive Girmay Zahilay warned that dissolution could jeopardize federal funding — about $60 million in federal Continuum of Care grants flows through the regional system, supporting housing for about 4,000 people. Whether the county and the City of Seattle step in with financial aid, and whether the authority survives, will depend on the questioning to come and decisions by both governments.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 金县法院大楼。图片：Joe Mabel，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / King County Courthouse, Seattle. Photo: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
