Agency Overview
The King County Housing Authority administers rental housing and rental assistance to more than 22,500 households. Our vision is that all residents of King County have access to quality affordable housing. We serve people in 33 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 150 properties with more than 12,600 units, including more than 4,400 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 affordable housing from private landlords. Our work in affordable housing and supportive services reaches more than 55,000 people who have incomes below the King County area median income.
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 acknowledges and pays deep respect to the Coast Salish peoples, the original inhabitants of the Puget Sound region, and their sacred, ancestral, and contemporary lands. We hold gratitude for and honor each of these nations, their pasts, their presents, and their futures.
We acknowledge our Indigenous connections, as well as critically reflect on the histories of forced removal and dispossession and that this community is the beneficiary.
We recognize the rights of the first peoples of the Salish Sea that the United States promised to protect in the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott, but which have not been upheld.
By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and take a small first step toward the long and overdue process to foster healing of the wounds inflicted on Coast Salish peoples. We will confront and address issues of exclusion, erasure, and systemic discrimination in our community as we work to hold ourselves more 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. About 900 privately owned single-family, multi-family, and mobile homes are upgraded each year.
Resident Services
KCHA understands that residents need more than safe, affordable housing to gain self-sufficiency. In partnership with local communities and nonprofits, we offer many types of support services. These include Head Start classes for preschoolers, job counseling for adults, and referrals for seniors and people with disabilities.