(lively music) - I'm Paris Jackson in the Crosscut KCTS 9 Newsroom a Snohomish County nonprofit that touted efforts to assist people struggling with homelessness is under investigation.
In February, the Hand Up Project board ousted its founder Robert Smiley and his wife from the organization after the Snohomish County Sheriff's Department opened an investigation into alleged fraud.
The Hand Up Project's hotel respite program was created during the early part of the pandemic in response to tents popping up around portions of Snohomish County.
Since 2020, the hotel respite program has received more than three million dollars in COVID-19 relief money from the county and other local agencies, while numerous complaints over staffing and unsafe practices surfaced months before two deaths at the hotel location.
A sheriff's department spokesperson confirms that the investigation remains ongoing.
I'm Paris Jackson.
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(lively music)