Seattle City Councilmembers Rinck and Foster and King County Councilmembers Fain and Barón release statement regarding the KCRHA Compliance and Stabilization Plan

Today King County Councilmembers Steffanie Fain and Jorge L. Barón and Seattle City Councilmembers Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Dionne Foster, who serve on the Governing Board of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), issued the following statement in response to the compliance and stabilization plan announced Wednesday by King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and Seattle Mayor Katie B. Wilson:

“The framework presented by Executive Zahilay and Mayor Wilson is an important step toward strengthening the region’s homelessness response while protecting continuity of care for the people who rely on these critical human services. Improving KCRHA’s internal financial controls and accountability is central to this effort.

“We support preserving KCRHA’s role in leading the region’s application for federal homelessness funding and are committed to ensuring that any transition of City and County contracts is well-coordinated and contiguous. Throughout this transition, the priority should be to minimize disruption for service providers, whose work is essential for the individuals and families who depend on the homelessness response system.

“At the same time, contracts transitioned to King County and the City of Seattle must be administered with transparency and strong fiscal stewardship. Providers need predictable and reliable contracting systems so they can remain focused on serving their communities, and the public should have confidence that homelessness resources are managed efficiently and effectively. As King County and Seattle City Councilmembers, we will continue exercising our oversight responsibility to help ensure those standards are met. This announcement advances a process established via legislation we co-sponsored in our respective councils, directing the Executive and Mayor to deliver a plan regarding next steps for the authority in August. We look forward to reviewing those plans in detail and working through them with our colleagues on both bodies.

“We appreciate the collaboration between the Mayor and Executive on this framework and will continue working with them and our respective legislative branches to support consistent contracting and administrative processes across both jurisdictions. This transition should strengthen accountability, provide greater stability for providers, preserve regional coordination, and improve outcomes for people experiencing homelessness.”

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