Steve Walker

Walker has dedicated his more than 30-year career to affordable housing and community development, beginning with homeless housing in New York City. He then directed housing programs for a nonprofit in his native northern California before coming to Seattle. In 1996, Walker joined the Washington State Housing Finance Commission and eventually became director of the Multifamily Housing and Community Facilities division, overseeing the financing of affordable apartments, nonprofit facilities, and many other projects benefitting families and communities statewide. He was appointed in 2014 to lead the City of Seattle’s Office of Housing, overseeing the 2016 $290 million Seattle Housing Levy, creating and preserving more than 3200 units of affordable housing. Walker served during a time of rapid growth marked by skyrocketing housing costs, displacement, and homelessness. In 2019, he was named as Executive Director of the WA State Housing Finance Commission, where he oversees a self-supporting state agency that each year finances more than 6,000 affordable apartments and more than 7,000 home loans, using tools such as tax-exempt bonds and federal housing tax credits.

AC24 Session: Designing and Launching Equity-Focused Initiatives

AC23 Session: HFA Advocacy in Action