Agency Overview
The King County Housing Authority administers rental housing and rental assistance for more than 50,000 people across King County--our vision is that all residents have access to quality affordable housing. We support people in 37 cities — not including Seattle and Renton — as well as in unincorporated areas of King County. The county, named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., covers more than 2,000 square miles, and KCHA's service area includes more than 1.2 million residents.
KCHA owns more than 155 properties with more than 12,700 units, including more than 2,500 units of federally subsidized housing for families, seniors, and people with disabilities. Another 8,000 rental units are financed through tax credits and tax-exempt bonds. Federally-funded Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8) help more than 14,000 households rent homes from private landlords.
Learn more about KCHA's housing programs.
Organization
The King County Housing Authority was created by the State of Washington in 1939 to serve our communities by providing affordable housing and related supports.
KCHA receives no operating funds from the State of Washington, King County, or the region's cities. It covers operating costs with rents from residents and federal funding. More than 500 employees work for the agency in a wide variety of careers, at the administrative offices in Tukwila and at field offices throughout the county.
KCHA is governed by a five-member volunteer Board of Commissioners. The King County Executive appoints the commissioners, who are then approved by the Metropolitan King County Council.
Land Acknowledgement
KCHA respects and honors the Coast Salish peoples, past, present and future, who are the original inhabitants of the land on which we live and work. As a local government organization that serves this community, KCHA will continue to address issues of exclusion and systemic discrimination and hold ourselves accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.
High Performance
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has named KCHA a high-performing agency every year since it began evaluating public housing authorities in 1992. HUD rates agency performance in four areas: financial condition, resident services, management operations, and the physical condition of housing.
In 2003, HUD named King County Housing Authority a Moving to Work (MTW) agency. Out of 3,300 public housing authorities in the nation, 139 have MTW status. MTW status gives KCHA flexibility to shape federally-funded programs to respond better to local conditions, streamline operations, and support residents.
New Neighborhoods
With the Greenbridge and Seola Gardens developments, KCHA committed more than $250 million in public and private funding since the early 2000s towards revitalizing White Center with vibrant, mixed-income communities.
Learn more about KCHA's development projects.
Development Financing
The King County Housing Authority actively acquires properties and builds new housing. Projects are primarily funded by combining federal, state, and local money with tax-exempt bonds, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, or both.
This program helps nonprofit and for-profit developers buy or build multi-family rental housing in King County. The below-market rate financing offered by KCHA can significantly improve the feasibility of affordable housing projects.
Housing Repair and Weatherization
KCHA provides home repair and weatherization service for lower-income homeowners. Funding comes from the federal government, utility companies, the State of Washington, King County, and the City of Bellevue. Approximately 350 privately owned single-family, multi-family, and mobile homes are upgraded each year.
Resident Services
Residents need more than safe, affordable housing to achieve their goals in education, health, employment, and self-sufficiency. In partnership with local communities and nonprofits, KCHA offers support services including early learning and after school programs, job counseling for adults, and service referrals for seniors and people with disabilities.
History
1939: The State of Washington creates the Housing Authority for the County of King.
1942: KCHA finishes 50 small but sturdy homes in Black Diamond, where coal miners had been living in shacks. It's one of the first rural housing projects in the nation.
1942-1945: Ten communities with more than 3,000 units are built to provide housing for war workers manufacturing airplanes and warships in Kirkland, White Center, and Auburn during World War II. When the war ends, the homes in Kirkland are torn down.
1949: The federal government passes the Housing Act, declaring that every American deserves "a decent home in a suitable living environment."
1952: Green River Homes with 60 units is built in Auburn, on the site of former war worker housing.
1958: Green River Homes is expanded with another 60 units.
1964: KCHA undertakes one of its biggest projects the next year, razing the temporary World War II-era Lakewood Park community. KCHA replaces it with 569 units of new and permanent family housing. White Center Heights is renamed Park Lake Homes Site I. The new community is called Park Lake Site II.
1968: The federal government passes a new Housing Act under President Lyndon B. Johnson, increasing funds for low-income housing and sparking a surge in construction from 1968-1971. KCHA builds Wayland Arms in Auburn, the first community reserved for seniors.
1969: KCHA builds Ballinger Hones, a family community in Shoreline.
1974: Section 8 of the new federal Housing and Community Development Act provides vouchers to subsidize the cost of rent for low-income renters living in private rental housing.
1980-1983: KCHA builds nearly 20 new developments, each with up to 30 units, in Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, and Federal Way. But funding for the construction of public housing starts to dry up in the 1980's under President Ronald Reagan.
1983: Seeking creative forms of funding, KCHA uses tax-exempt bonds to finance Vantage Glen, a mobile home park in Renton for low-income seniors.
1990's: KCHA issues bonds to acquire and restore several apartment complexes in East King County. The properties are privately managed, but units are set aside for people with incomes lower than the Area Media Income (AMI). In the mid-1990's KCHA also starts using Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to help finance developments where KCHA does not own the properties but acts as the managing general partner for the ownership group.
2002: KCHA opens the Village at Overlake Station, a 308-unit complex in Bellevue, next to a transit station and with an on-site early learning center for children.
2005: White Center's Park Lake Homes I begins transformation into Greenbridge, a mixed income community.
2010: KCHA finishes the $55 million transformation of Springwood Apartments in Kent into a family community called Birch Creek. KCHA also begins transformation of Park Lake Homes II into Seola Gardens.
As we move forward, KCHA continues to develop, acquire, and preserve housing that is affordable and available for people with lower incomes, while also increasing partnerships with private landlords to support individuals and families with Housing Choice (Section 8) Vouchers. As of 2025, KCHA serves more than 50,000 people across 37 cities in King County.