Our History

  • We were founded in 1988 as the Washington Low Income Housing Congress, a 501(c)4 organization that developed an annual legislative agenda representing the affordable housing community’s shared priorities.  

  • With support and funding from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a 501(c)3 was formed – the Washington Low Income Housing Network – in 1993 to increase grassroots participation in advocating for affordable housing. 

  • In 2003, the Congress and the Network joined forces to become the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance. 

  • In 2011, the Washington State Coalition for the Homeless and the Housing Alliance merged into one organization, continuing to operate as the Housing Alliance, but with an increased focus on homelessness.  

  • In 2012, the Housing Alliance reactivated our 501(c)4, as the Washington Housing Alliance Action Fund. This allowed us to use every tool available, including the electoral process, to address the affordable housing and homelessness crisis in Washington. 

  • In 2026 we rebranded to become a more powerful and visible voice for housing justice. The Washington Housing Alliance is our advocacy, political, and power building home. The Washington Housing Alliance Education Network focuses on education, training, and strengthening the field, and is home to our organizational membership base. This new structure will allow us to build both the movement and the political power needed to solve the housing crisis!

The Washington Housing Alliance Education Network has a rich history reaching back more than three decades. Its roots can be traced to the Washington Coalition for Rural Housing (WCRH), which was created in 1980 to advocate for more affordable housing in rural Washington.  

In the mid-1980s, WCRH became part of a group of organizations across the state that sought more resources to develop affordable housing, and through coordinated legislative activities helped create the first funding for homeless programs in the state in 1982, to create the Washington State Housing Finance Commission in 1983, and the Washington State Housing Trust Fund in 1986. The creation of the Housing Trust Fund became a catalyst that led to the creation of what would become the Washington Housing Alliance Education Network. 

In the past four years, the Housing Alliance Education Network has: expanded its membership; reconfigured its board to allow room for new leaders to get involved; set its sights on diversifying its funding to be more sustainable; and launched new education and communication initiatives.