King County Regional Homelessness Authority investigates its CEO

The King County Regional Homelessness Authority is investigating complaints against its CEO, Kelly Kinnison, less than a year after she was hired.

There were 27 pages of complaints about Kinnison as of May, according to the authority, which denied a public records request for the documents, citing an open investigation. The investigation was still ongoing as of Friday, according to an authority spokesperson.

Elected officials have largely remained in support of Kinnison, who was hired after a long search and after two other finalists dropped out.

The authority’s governing board, made up of elected officials and their appointees, convened an executive session on May 15 “to receive and evaluate complaints or charges brought against a public officer or employee.”

On June 16, the board created a Personnel Management Committee to provide day-to-day supervision of the authority’s CEO.

Last Wednesday, Kinnison sent an email to the authority’s staff informing them the committee requested the organization suspend the hiring of a chief program officer until further notice “based on concerns raised regarding the validity and equity of the current recruitment/hiring process.”

Emails that the Seattle Times received in a public records request hint at rifts between Kinnison and her executive leadership team at the Regional Homelessness Authority over this issue. One email from Deputy CEO Simon Foster questioned her desire to hire candidates with certain characteristics.

“There is real tension among our current executive team regarding this direction, and without clear scope, justification, and communication, we risk creating internal dissonance that could impact morale and execution,” Foster wrote.

Kinnison is the fifth person to have led the Regional Homelessness Authority since its creation in 2021. The inaugural CEO Marc Dones butted heads with Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell over funding and the authority’s role in encampment removals. Dones also drew the ire of contracted nonprofit service providers for being late to pay them and dealt a blow to enthusiasm for the authority in failing to deliver on a promise to end homelessness downtown. Helen Howell, an interim replacement, permanently shut down the authority’s signature project.

After Howell left, Harrell brought in Darrell Powell, an executive at several prominent nonprofits and a former high school football teammate of Harrell’s, to lead the authority. Powell was then fired after he wrote a scathing letter about how the authority had “too many cooks in the kitchen” and elected officials micromanaged the agency, which was supposed to be independent.

Hedda McLendon served as acting CEO for a few months before Kinnison took over last August.

Kinnison was a federal bureaucrat at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, based in Washington, D.C. She has received favorable reviews from board members.

“I feel like things have gotten better. I feel like we’ve stabilized a bit, and I really do appreciate the leadership of Dr. Kinnison. I think she’s getting this on the right path,” said Ed Prince, a member of the authority’s governing board and a Renton City Council member, in June.

Harrell said in a recent interview that there appeared to be culture and morale issues within the authority, which he did not ascribe to its leader.

“She certainly inherited a tough job,” Harrell said. “She has, I’m sure, ongoing challenges, but given the hand that she’s been dealt, I think she’s doing well.”