In 1939, the King County Commissioners created the Housing Authority of the County of King to provide “decent, safe and sanitary housing for those families unable to obtain such housing elsewhere.”

Early Park Lake Homes, aerial.

Early Park Lake Homes.

Green River Homes, 1958.

KCHA built its first development in Black Diamond, where poor coal miners lived in squalid shacks. In 1942, the Housing Authority completed construction of 50 sturdy little homes equipped with electricity and running water. It was one of the first rural, low-rent housing projects in the nation.

War Workers Housing

With the United States’ entrance into World War II, manufacturing of warplanes at Boeing and warships at local shipyards jumped. People flooded into the Puget Sound area to work, and KCHA was ordered to build them housing.

From 1942 to 1945, KCHA constructed 10 developments – most intended to be temporary complexes – that provided more than 3,000 units of housing for war workers. The housing was concentrated in three places – Kirkland, White Center and Auburn.

With the end of the war, all of the Kirkland developments were torn down or sold, but the other housing sites remained in operation, serving low-income working families.

Expansion after 1949

KCHA began to expand after passage of the Housing Act of 1949, in which the federal government declared that every American deserves “a decent home in a suitable living environment.” The government pledged to build 810,000 new units of public housing across the country.

The King County Housing Authority tore down Auburn Terrace in Auburn sometime after the war. In 1952, KCHA built Green River Homes – 60 units of family public housing – on that site. In 1958, Green River Homes II – another 60-unit family development – also was built on the site.

In 1963, Harold Y. Hopkins became executive director. Known as “Hoppy,” Hopkins counted Washington’s powerful senators Warren G. Magnuson and Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson among his personal friends, and when federal funding for housing grew, he made sure KCHA got its share.

KCHA undertook one of its biggest projects the next year at White Center, finally razing the World War II-era temporary development Lakewood Park and replacing it with 165 units of new, permanent family housing. White Center Heights was renamed Park Lake Homes Site I then, and the new development was called Park Lake Site II.

Housing for Seniors Emerges

The Housing Act of 1968, promoted by President Lyndon Johnson, allocated significant resources for low-income housing, and there was a surge of construction nationally from 1968 to 1971.

In 1968, KCHA built its first development reserved for elderly renters, Wayland Arms in Auburn.
A controversial idea at first, elderly housing quickly became politically appealing. From 1969 to 1973, 15 senior high-rises sprang up around the county. KCHA constructed one large-scale family development in 1969 –- Ballinger Homes in Shoreline.

In 1973, Jim Wiley took over as executive director. He directed KCHA for 23 years, helping it develop a national reputation for excellence in the maintenance and management of public housing.

The Emergence of Section 8

A new form of subsidized housing emerged in the ‘70s. Section 8 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 provided for housing assistance to low-income renters living in private housing.

KCHA had another surge of housing construction from 1980 to 1983, constructing nearly 20 small-scale (30 units or less) developments. The Housing Authority targeted new areas for these communities, including Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland and Federal Way.

When funding for construction of public housing began to dry up in the 1980s, the King County Housing Authority cast about for new ways to address a still dire need for inexpensive homes.

Bonds and Tax Credits Make More Affordable Housing Possible

In 1983, when the Housing Authority began planning Vantage Glen – a mobile home park in unincorporated Renton for low-income seniors – it discovered a new source of funding, issuing $2.36 million worth of tax-exempt bonds for the project.

In the early ‘90s, KCHA issued bonds to acquire several rundown apartment complexes on the Eastside and restore them. The properties would continue to be privately managed, but many of the units would be targeted for people earning less than the area median income. In the mid-‘90s, the Housing Authority began using tax credits, too. The tax credit program provides tax incentives for investors in low-income housing. KCHA is not the owner of these properties but a managing general partner in the ownership groups.

A Place for Innovation

Under Executive Director Stephen Norman, who took the reins in early 1997, KCHA continues to excel at managing and maintaining its public housing, repeatedly earning “high performer” status. The Housing Authority also has continued to acquire and renovate apartment complexes, with triumphant restorations at Laurelwood Gardens in Federal Way, Windsor Heights at SeaTac, Somerset Gardens in Bellevue and Arbor Heights in White Center.

In October 2001, the agency received a $35 million federal HOPE VI grant to redevelop Park Lake Homes I into an improved, mixed-income development called Greenbridge.

In March 2002, KCHA celebrated the completion of the Village at Overlake Station, a 308-unit transit-oriented development. The $40 million complex in Bellevue, with a transit station out front and day care center on-site, is an award-winning, one-of-a-kind project.

In July 2003, the KCHA Commissioners approved an agreement with HUD formalizing KCHA’s participation in the Making Transition Work demonstration program, which can ensure that innovation continues here.