‘It’s a failed experiment’: Reagan Dunn calls for closing King County homelessness authority

King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn renewed his call to close the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), arguing that Seattle and King County should take back responsibility for services and make elected leaders directly accountable for results.

On “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, Dunn described the regional agency as an unnecessary layer between voters and the officials responsible for addressing homelessness.

“It’s a failed experiment,” Dunn said. “Sometimes you get it wrong.”

His comments came after KIRO host Ursula Reutin asked about a Seattle Times report concerning the departure of the authority’s public records officer and allegations that her access to records had been restricted. The authority has denied improperly limiting disclosure.

Dunn has advocated closing the agency for years.

“We’ve got to make it something that the county does, the city does,” he argued. “Your elected leaders are directly responsible for the outcomes and the results.”

Dunn wants homelessness funding brought back to the county

Rather than raising additional taxes, Dunn proposed redirecting the more than $40 million the county provides to the agency and appropriating that money directly through county government.

“That’s an existing funding stream that’s already there,” he explained. “Let’s use that, and as I advocated, pull it back from KCRHA and do the direct appropriations through the county.”

His argument centered on making it easier for voters to identify who is responsible when services fall short.

“Then you can throw those elected leaders out if they’re not doing a good job in the next election,” Dunn added.

He contrasted that with what he described as an “unelected bureaucracy” at the regional authority.

Dunn questions whether more spending will solve homelessness

Dunn argued that homelessness requires more than additional funding. He acknowledged housing affordability as an important factor but pointed to addiction recovery and mental health treatment as areas needing greater attention.

“I think it’s the most significant local issue of our generation, this issue of homelessness,” Dunn said. “It’s super complicated. It’s not easy.”

Dunn questioned whether current strategies are producing sufficient results and wants future spending tied to measurable outcomes.

His proposal to return services to county and city control also came with a condition: stronger oversight of the money being distributed.

“In order to do it right, we got to get our inspector general in and our other oversight mechanisms in place,” he noted.

Stronger grant oversight is part of Dunn’s proposed reset

Dunn expects the county’s incoming inspector general to help examine questionable spending and hold grant recipients accountable. The office’s independent subpoena power and ability to refer matters for criminal prosecution could help uncover wrongdoing and discourage future misuse of public money, he argued.

At the same time, he distinguished organizations accused of misconduct from the broader group of service providers.

“The overwhelming majority of these grant recipients are doing good work,” Dunn emphasized. “They’re trying hard.”

For Dunn, closing the regional authority would be part of a broader effort to put responsibility for spending and results back within local government.

“Let’s bring it all back in house,” he said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.