(The Center Square) – The King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) will delay approval of its 2026 budget until January due to a lack of a quorum and upcoming turnover of its Governing Board.
When KCRHA revealed its preliminary proposed 2026 budget in June, it scheduled its final vote for the Dec. 18 meeting. However, the KCRHA Governing Board ultimately chose to not vote on the budget.
“I wasn’t pushing on a vote for the budget only because it might be better served to have the new board make that decision,” Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said during the meeting on Thursday.
The decision was driven by the Governing Board’s lack of a quorum, despite strong encouragement from KCRHA CEO Kelly Kinnison. Kinnison said the agency hoped to approve the budget by the end of the year, noting that its interlocal agreement with Seattle and King County requires approval by the end of January.
“We believe that with the reassignments in January and other transitions, it may be very difficult to have a quorum meeting in January,” Kinnison said. “So this may be the opportunity outside of a special meeting that were possible to go into the approved budget and meet the ILA requirements”
KCRHA Communications Director Lisa Edge told The Center Square that the 2026 Governing Board members include Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, King County Councilmembers Claudia Balducci and Jorge Barón, and three homeless or formerly homeless people, as required by the agency: Kent Hay, Ellyse Bracken, and Yvonne-Monique Aviva.
The terms for the Sound Cities Association members (Nancy Backus, Ed Prince, and Angela Birney) ends at the end of this year. KCRHA will find out in January who will be in the seats representing the association as well as the two remaining City of Seattle seats.
KCRHA’s proposed 2026 budget totals $205 million, a slight dip from the agency’s 2025 budget, which totals $206.87 million.
Seattle is KCRHA’s main funder, allocating $118.93 million in 2026, or 58% of the agency’s total budget. Harrell – who will not be on the board after this year – asked KCRHA to look more closely at how a regional approach to King County’s homelessness crisis is applied, due to some 70% of Seattle’s homeless population becoming homeless outside of the city.
According to Harrell, 85% of tiny homes in King County are located in Seattle, as well as 63% of shelters.
Kinnison acknowledged Harrell’s comments during the Friday meeting, adding that the agency is better positioned to fulfill the role as the regional homelessness response backbone.
Federal impacts to KCRHA’s finances continue to loom after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) withdrew a notice of funding announcement earlier this month just as court proceedings were set to begin in a lawsuit involving King County. The lawsuit claims HUD’s funding notice was a late-stage decision, as it was done weeks before the fiscal year 2025 awards would have gone out, rescinding the two-year notice of funding.
HUD’s revised notice of funding announcement may come out on Friday or within the next few days.
KCRHA previously anticipated the notice-of-funding announcement to result in a $40 million shortfall due to its 30% cap on permanent housing spending, which is a major focus in the agency’s expenditures.
With the likelihood of a loss in federal funding, KCRHA reduced its administrative budget by approximately $3 million and its administrative office from 106 full-time positions to 84. The agency also implemented a hiring freeze, which it intends to keep in place with few exceptions through the first six months of 2026.
