Seattle’s troubled homelessness agency has lost its fifth chief executive in only a few years as Mayor Katie Wilson’s progressive administration moves to reclaim control of nearly all its services after a series of financial scandals.
Kelly Kinnison resigned this week from the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), triggering another leadership crisis as Wilson and King County Executive Girmay Zahilay transfer much of the agency’s work back to local government.
Her departure follows a scathing audit that found major financial weaknesses, including overspending and inadequate accounting. The authority is also believed to have spent nearly $17 million on administrative expenses that cannot be recovered.
Kinnison, who became CEO in 2024, also faced employee complaints and allegations that she attempted to limit access to public records.
Her resignation adds to the turmoil surrounding an agency established in 2019 to coordinate the region’s homelessness response. Instead, KCRHA has endured repeated leadership changes, controversy and mounting questions about the use of taxpayer funds.
Wilson and Zahilay have concluded that Seattle and King County should directly manage almost all homelessness service contracts, a move that would strip KCRHA of much of the role it was created to perform.
The decision marks a major change in the region’s homelessness strategy. Wilson is seeking to bring services back under City Hall’s oversight rather than rely on the independent regional authority.
Officials have stopped short of dissolving KCRHA entirely, despite calls earlier this year to shut down the embattled agency.
Kelly Kinnison became the fifth CEO to leave Seattle’s troubled homelessness authority in just a few years, after criticism of her leadership and the agency’s financial oversight
Instead, KCRHA will remain as a much smaller organization. Its responsibilities will include coordinating federal grant applications, monitoring performance across the homelessness system and arranging emergency aid for people sleeping outdoors during severe weather.
The federal grants managed through the authority generally amount to about $65 million each year.
KCRHA announced Kinnison’s departure Friday, describing it as part of the agency’s sweeping restructuring.
Agency spokesperson Lisa Edge said the resignation reflected the authority’s narrower “mission, purpose and service scope.”
Kinnison defended her tenure, saying she helped bring longstanding problems inside the organization to light.
“I was asked to assess and rebuild a young organization that had significant challenges,” she said.
“I’m proud of what I’ve achieved, including surfacing structural issues in our finance department and contributing to the path forward for a more accountable homelessness response system.”
Her tenure, however, was marked by fresh conflict. Kinnison arrived from Washington, DC, where she served as a policy director at the Department of Health and Human Services, and inherited an agency already struggling with years of dysfunction.
King County Executive Girmay Zahilay is working with Wilson to move homelessness services back to local government after years of turmoil within the authority
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is reclaiming control of most homelessness service contracts as her administration begins an overhaul of the embattled agency
Tents, vehicles and personal belongings fill a Seattle encampment as the city’s homelessness authority prepares to take on a far smaller role
Service providers had reported lengthy reimbursement delays, while a closely watched downtown homelessness program failed to produce the broad improvements its supporters had promised.
KCRHA’s first CEO also became involved in public clashes with shelter operators and elected officials over the agency’s strategy and the level of funding needed to address homelessness.
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Several interim leaders followed. One left after publicly criticizing the involvement of former Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell.
Kinnison was selected after an extensive search for a permanent CEO, but allegations soon emerged during her leadership.
Employees filed complaints and later accused her of retaliation. More recently, questions were raised about how she handled the authority’s obligations under Washington’s public records law.
At the same time, KCRHA’s financial troubles intensified, culminating in an audit that identified serious deficiencies in its budgeting and accounting systems.
The findings strengthened demands for the authority to be dismantled.
Wilson and Zahilay have declined to go that far, but their plan to reclaim nearly all homelessness service contracts leaves KCRHA facing an uncertain future.
Tents and makeshift shelters line a Seattle street as the city continues to confront its long-running homelessness crisis
Rows of tents fill a public space in Seattle, where billions of dollars have been spent addressing homelessness over the years
Makeshift shelters and personal belongings spread across an encampment as officials face growing scrutiny over the region’s homelessness response
Both officials praised Kinnison’s work and said they would recommend an interim CEO to lead the authority.
“She took on a challenging job to lead coordination on our region’s most pressing issue amid a shifting federal landscape and structural issues within the authority,” Zahilay said.
Wilson, who shares leadership of the governing board with Zahilay, said the transition of services back to the city was moving forward as planned.
“I have a responsibility to the people of Seattle to ensure that financial challenges at KCRHA are addressed and stabilized,” she said.
Jorge Barón, a member of the Metropolitan King County Council, said appointing new leadership would be essential as KCRHA begins its sweeping transformation.
“I am focused on working with Governing Board members to name new leadership that can effectively guide the KCRHA through the significant transitions ahead,” he said.
Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus, who also serves on the governing board, said regional cooperation on homelessness could still succeed despite the latest crisis.
“I still believe that a regional and subregional approach to addressing homelessness can, and does, work,” she said.
“Still, the structure needs to look significantly different than what we’re used to seeing.”
KCRHA’s immediate task is to find a sixth leader for an organization whose finances, management and fundamental purpose have all come under intense scrutiny.
As City Hall takes back the services once coordinated by the authority, the next CEO will inherit an organization with substantially less power than the one created seven years ago.
Our News Outlet contacted Seattle City Hall and KCRHA for comment.
