Congratulations to our 2026 Friend of Housing winners!
Margaret Sevy Lifetime Achievement Award
Steve Tharinger, Washington State House of Representatives
Emerging Leader Award
Mansour Camara, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle
Emerging Leader Award
Astro Pittman, Plymouth Housing
Unsung Hero Award
Laura Hodgson, Washington State Department of Commerce
Unsung Hero Award
Daphne Rasche, Peer Olympia
Unsung Hero Award
Uche Okezie, HomeSight
Homeownership Equity Award
Kristy Johnson, King County Housing Authority
Friend of Housing
Terry Lott, GD Association
Excellence in Property Management
Joe Plotts, Bellwether Housing
Community Crisis Response
Gage Spicer, Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington
The annual awards, presented by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, honor affordable housing champions—individuals, projects, or organizations—who have made exceptional contributions to create or support affordable housing in Washington state.
Award Categories
Since 2020, the Friend of Housing Awards have been given in the following categories:
Margret Sevy Lifetime Achievement Award: Honoring individuals who over the course of their career have shown remarkable and sustained leadership and made an impactful contribution to affordable housing in Washington state
Emerging Leader: Honoring individuals new to the housing industry (under 3 years) who show exemplary leadership in their organization or community.
Racial Equity Initiative: Honoring initiatives that address, in a demonstrably effective way, systemic racism in the housing industry.
Empowering Housing Residents: Honoring initiatives or programs (multifamily or single-family) that are resident-led or that have resulted in residents becoming engaged and active in improving their community.
Community Crisis Response: Honoring individuals, organizations or initiatives in the affordable housing field that have successfully responded to a community crisis, such as disaster, pandemic, major defunding, or other unexpected event.
Housing Intersection: Honoring those who work outside the affordable-housing field and whose work has positively impacted affordable housing production, management, resident well-being, etc.
Unsung Hero: Honoring someone who may not occupy a position high in profile or leadership, but whose efforts behind the scenes have had a far-reaching impact.
Housing Inclusion: Honoring initiatives that reduce housing barriers (whether rental or homeownership) for those who have been traditional marginalized by race, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, or other reason.
Sustainable Housing: Honoring people or initiatives that focus on environmentally sustainable housing in such areas as construction, energy efficiency, property management, etc.
Friend of Housing: General award honoring those who don’t fit neatly into one of the above categories.
Past Recipients of the Friend of Housing Award
Evaluation Criteria
The selection committee evaluates nominees according to their active commitment in the previous twelve months:
- Housing-related programs
- Innovative financing mechanisms for affordable housing
- Educational efforts about affordable housing
- Supporting others to solve affordable housing problems
- Legislation/public policy that addresses our state's housing needs
- Innovation, leadership, creativity, or partnership that goes above and beyond the nominee's job duties
- Specific examples, quantified results, and other details that show the nominee's impact
More Information
For more information about the Friend of Housing Award, please contact Margret Graham at margret.graham@wshfc.org.