Fifth CEO of Regional Homelessness Authority resigns

The Seattle Times’ Project Homeless explores and explains the Puget Sound region’s complex, troubling problem of homelessness. It is supported by Campion Foundation and Raikes Foundation, with Seattle Foundation as fiscal sponsor. The Seattle Times maintains editorial control over all its coverage.

The fifth CEO to hold the role at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority resigned this week. Kelly Kinnison’s decision comes as Seattle and King County take back control over much of the authority’s responsibilities and it transitions into a much smaller agency with more limited power.

The resignation follows criticism of her handling of the agency’s finances and efforts to curb transparency about her communications.

Agency spokesperson Lisa Edge said in a news release Friday that Kinnison’s departure was a reflection of the scaled-down “mission, purpose and service scope” of the authority.

“I was asked to assess and rebuild a young organization that had significant challenges,” Kinnison said in the statement. “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.”

The homelessness authority has been the center of nonstop controversy since city and county elected leaders voted it into existence in 2019. Providers were exasperated by severe delays in reimbursements for contracts, and private and public funders were disappointed in a downtown initiative that promised to solve homelessness but fell far short. The first CEO clashed publicly with shelters and local leaders about strategy and the true cost of reducing homelessness.

After several interim CEOs, one of whom left the organization with fiery rebukes of then Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s involvement in the organization, and a long hiring process for a permanent replacement, Kinnison was hired from Washington, D.C., where she was a director of policy within the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.

Kinnison assumed the reins of the authority in mid-2024, inheriting all of these issues. Soon, she garnered negative attention of her own. Staff members filed complaints about her and then accused her of retaliating. Recently, she has also faced allegations of violating state public records law.

During her tenure, local leaders’ patience with the authority’s issues reached an end. A damning audit found poor accounting practices, budget issues and overspending, leading to growing calls for the dissolution of the agency this spring.

While city and county leaders have not yet gone as far as shutting the authority down, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and King County Executive Girmay Zahilay announced this summer the two governments would take back almost all homelessness service contracts and administer them in-house.

The homelessness authority is still expected to manage the region’s requests for federal grant funding, typically totaling roughly $65 million annually, in addition to coordinating help for people living outside in severe weather conditions and overseeing performance outcomes in the homelessness system.

Still, past issues continue to be a liability for the city and county. It is now believed the agency spent nearly $17 million on administrative costs that it will not be able to recover.

Wilson and Zahilay, chairs of the homelessness authority’s governing board, thanked Kinnison for her work in the news release and said they plan to recommend an interim leader to take over soon.

“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 in the release.

During a meeting Friday of the authority’s governing board, Wilson said the transition of services from the authority to the city is on track and will continue to be so.

“I have a responsibility to the people of Seattle to ensure that financial challenges at KCRHA are addressed and stabilized,” Wilson said in the release.

Metropolitan King County Councilmember Jorge Barón, who serves on the governing board, said he is concentrating on next steps.

“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 in a statement Friday.

Other members of the authority’s governing board, which include Seattle and King County council members, in addition to leaders from other cities in the region, have not yet responded to requests for comment.

Stephannie Stokes : sstokes@seattletimes.com . Stephannie Stokes is a reporter for Project Homeless at The Seattle Times, where she reports on poverty issues throughout the region and state.