Waste of the Day: Seattle’s Homelessness Fiasco
Topline: The homelessness agency in King County, Wash., has a $45 million deficit, but auditors can’t fully figure out why, according to a state audit publicly released this April. Its accounting records are so poor that it’s impossible to track where portions of its money are being spent.
Key facts: The King County Regional Homelessness Authority helps run shelters and outreach to the homeless population in 39 cities. It’s funded jointly by the county and the City of Seattle.
Financial records claim that the city and county owe the Homelessness Authority $49.8 million for services already performed, but the Authority could not explain what $8 million of that was for.
The Authority also overspent its administrative budget by $4.3 million, auditors found. Officials bought Salesforce, a business analytics platform, in 2024 without approval from the county, the report claims. A budget amendment later allowed them to spend $563,000, but the platform ended up costing more than $2 million.
Money was also wasted by hiring contractors from expensive consulting firms like Robert Half instead of using salaried workers, the audit found. The Authority contracted with one Robert Half staffer to serve as its chief financial officer for 11 months at $449,000. When the contract expired, the same person became a full-time employee for just $285,000 per year.
The reliance on contractors also increased staff turnover, which employees told auditors made accounting more difficult since financial systems were constantly being altered by new leadership.
The Authority was formed in December 2019 and had received $534 million in total funding as of July 2025. Some local leaders, including Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, said they are open to the idea of dissolving it.
King County Council member Rod Dembowski told the Renton Reporter, “It’s now time for elected officials to bring this failed experiment to an end. The agency has failed in its core obligation – to make significant progress in getting people sheltered.”
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Background: Seattle had almost 17,000 homeless people as of 2024, the fourth-largest population in the U.S. despite being the 18th-largest city. Homelessness increased by 19% from 2023 to 2024.
King County receives $65 million in annual federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care program. Most of it goes to the Homelessness Authority for housing, but the Trump administration is proposing changes that would require most of the money to be spent on “self-sufficiency” programs like job training and addiction treatment.
Summary: Seattle is becoming the largest major city to learn that spending massive amounts of money on homelessness prevention is pointless without careful oversight.
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