Housing

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(This guide is mainly tailored to folks who would be able to pay rent in some fashion.
Need resources like supportive housing, shelters or transitional housing for unhoused folks? Check here. Looking to buy or sell a home? Check here.)

Introduction

Housing in Washington is expensive; mostly in Seattle and surrounding cities, but all of western Washington is decently pricy. Even dedicated affordable apartments can be more expensive than units where you may be coming from, so it’s good to check before deciding where to move to.

In terms of rent costs, PNW cities vaguely go (descending):

Seattle
“Eastside” (Bellevue, Redmond, etc.)
Tacoma
Portland, OR
Olympia + Bellingham
Spokane + Yakima

You can also compare your current location with RentCafe’s COL Calculator.

If moving somewhere new, especially if you don’t drive, consider checking WalkScore to get a baseline of transit and pedestrian accessibility.

In Seattle (and most cities), the further out you get from the center, the cheaper rents get, but the stock of small apartments also goes down somewhat. If you don’t drive, I recommend trying to live near a light rail station (or near a bus connection to it); we have one major line, and it will help you easily get to most other areas in the city. You can use one common transit card called an ORCA Card for the light rail, King County metro + other buses, and ferries.

Get in touch with us and we can talk about neighborhoods, or read this neighborhood Spark Notes by local paper The Stranger.

Know Your Rights as a Renter

Seattle: Seattle Renting – WA Tenants Union info

Move-In Charges: you can pay the security deposit and fees over 6 months.
You can check the history of records for an address. This may show safety violations, noise complaints, etc – but doesn’t necessarily have all info.
Security deposit and fees combined cannot exceed one month’s rent. Example: Rent = $1,000. Fees = $100. Security Deposit = $900 (source)
Pet deposit of 25% of one month’s rent can be charged in addition to the security deposit and fees. Example: Rent = $1,000. Fees = $100 + Security Deposit $900 + $250 (pet deposit). (source)

Washington:–WA Rights – WA Tenants Union – – Rent Increase Cap

Quality: There’s an HUD guide to finding a habitable home, if you want to make sure you check your boxes that the unit you’re moving into is a good place to live!

Market-Rate Apartments

You can find market-rate apartments on HotPads, apartments.com, Rent.com CraigsList, Zillow, RedFin, or all kinds of sites. Anecdotally, apartments that don’t list online (and you will find by seeing signs in the wild and calling a phone #) are sometimes slightly cheaper, but obviously that’s much harder to find.

Apex Belltown Co-op is a community housing group with unusually low prices.

Protip, if you’ve got a few hours to put into this: A friend found a cheaper + better apartment than he was seeing on aggregator sites, by going to the BBB property management company listing, sorting by rating, and checking the listings for each company one-by-one. (Skipping obvious bad eggs like anything “Vacation Rentals”.) Good+cheap apartments go fast on big sites, but sometimes companies don’t list apartments there, and only have them up on their own pages. This is the closest online equivalent to seeing building signs in the wild. These landlords may also be better than average. No guarantees, and it takes time, but may find a diamond in the rough.

⚠️ Landlord warning: Northwest Apartments is to be avoided if possible, they jack up rents like crazy and are very hard to get maintenance done – but they’re also buying up the cheapest apartments in Seattle, unfortunately. Just be warned and be prepared to move when your lease is up or pay more. Whatever apartment you choose, you might want to look them up on BBB Seattle and make sure they work with their renters well to resolve issues, but keep in mind that this will always skew negative.

Low Credit / Don’t make income ratios?
Housing Connector is a program that can help lower these barriers by connecting with landlords. You can get access through Peer Seattle. Please note you must be physically present in Seattle to apply
Small landlords are also less likely to check your credit score than large corporate ones – these buildings can often be found by walking around the neighborhood and looking for leasing signs, or by the BBB method described above. Bode is also worth checking out (page takes a sec to load), I’ve heard they don’t typically do credit checks.

Finding Roommates

No matter where you are, housing with roommates is almost always the cheapest option: consistently cheaper than market-rate units for a single person, and can often be cheaper than low-income housing as well.

There are various groups for finding roommates in larger units or homes, including Q/T-specific groups; which can be much more affordable than getting your own apartment.

Statewide:

Roomies.com has area search, with an express “LGBT+ friendly” toggle for both “Rooms” and “Roomies”. Keep in mind these people may or may not be trans-friendly in particular, but can be a good place to start. Watch out for scams, also.

You may also have luck posting on Lex (gay craigslist app); some folks use it for housing.

Seattle:
Facebook:

Telegram:

Local queer/trans roommates seeking/posting:
- Seattle “Fuck Landlords” Gay Housing Association
- Seattle Area Queer Housing
Similar group made by some local furries that seems to be pretty active for roommates, if you’re cool with that kinda thing: https://t.me/pnwfurs_housing

Signal:

There’s both a general Seattle housing chat and a small Seattle QTBIPOC housing group, reach out to sophie@tractionpnw.org if you want an invite to either.

Avoiding Scams

Especially on roommate groups and Craigslist, there are plenty of housing scams out there. Do NOT send anyone any money without a clear leasing agreement or confirmation they actually have control of the building. We strongly recommend asking to tour places first – we have folks in the area who could tour for you if you’d like to get in touch, but just trying to set a tour up will often also just make scammers pull away or show their hand.
⚠️ Scam Warning: NEVER use PayPal Friends & Family to send someone money. That’s the non-refundable PayPal option (and we would advise against Venmo etc that don’t allow for refunds). If someone suggests F&F specifically, it is very likely a scam.

Bellingham: Bellingham Queer Housing FB group - Roomies Rooms + Roommates

Spokane: Spokane Queer Housing FB Group - Roomies Rooms + Roommates

Tacoma: Tacoma Queer Bulletin FB Group - SpareRoom - Roomies Rooms + Roommates

Olympia: Queer Exchange Olympia FB Group - Roomies Rooms + Roommates

Vancouver WA: Roomies Rooms + Roommates. May also have luck in Portland groups?

Yakima: Roomies Rooms + Roommates

Low-income Apartments

There are usually 2-3 main types of affordable housing and rental assistance*.*

Affordable buildings (both operated directly by regional Housing Authorities, and by partners)
MFTE units (where relevant)
Housing Choice Vouchers/Section 8, AKA rental assistance.

Median income in Seattle and WA is high – you may qualify for these even if you think you don’t. In Seattle, go to Income & Rent Limits and look up your income and household size in the “Rental Housing Limits” PDF.

On the Eastside (Bellevue, Renton, etc), there’s a great site that helps you find programs and housing you might be a fit for! https://www.archhousing.org/apartment-search-tool

Most cities and counties have their own Housing Authorities that administer similar programs, for which your regional Housing Authority is a good lead. See the list below.

Affordable Buildings

State-wide, you can use AptFinder.org to look for dedicated affordable-housing options. There’s no map, but you can sort by city (or by area of Seattle), and lots of other criteria. Many of these will be income-limited.

Note: Most affordable units will take several weeks after application to verify your eligibility. If you are able, we strongly recommend applying before arriving.

You can also check Seattle’s affordable rental housing page for a list of dedicated low-income providers and check their sites directly.

Senior Housing

SHAG (Sustainable Housing for Ageless Generations) provides senior housing that is fixed-income and disability-friendly. Community-focused, independent living senior apartments are available in 17 locations in Seattle, Bothell, Bellevue, Kent, Federal Way, Tacoma, Portland, and more.

Pride Place, an eight-story building located on Broadway between Pike and Pine, features 118 apartments above an LGBTQIA-focused community and health services center run by GenPride. Pride Place households must have at least one member aged 55 or older.

MFTEs

The MFTE program is a special program in some WA cities like Seattle and Olympia that provides a small percentage of cheaper, income-restricted apartments in otherwise market-rate buildings. There is no single income cutoff; different MFTE units dedicated to different income brackets, from 30% to 90% of Area Median Income. ($27,726 - $83,178 for 1 person in 2024, though most units are lower on that scale.)
(“MFTE” is short for “Multifamily Tax Exemption” – just refers to landlords having these for a tax cut.)

Finding MFTEs

In Seattle, try MFTE Seattle for a map with availability. Seattle MFTE units can also be seen on a map here, but it doesn’t show current availability. Other cities may have their own sites you can find, but you can also usually find MFTEs just by searching on apartments.com or similar, often with a low-income filter.

Rental Assistance

You should try and get on waitlists for both Housing Choice Vouchers (where available) and affordable housing at your destination ASAP. These may or may not take a while to come through and can be very clutch. Many don’t require proof of current residency.

Section 8 / Housing Choice Vouchers

(Links here are for Seattle, but info is the same statewide, though some cities’ waitlists are closed. Find your housing authority on the list below for the links and application for other cities.)

In Housing Choice Vouchers, aka Section 8 housing, the city pays a significant fixed amount towards your rent directly while you live in a market-rate (“regular”) apartment. Drawing is done randomly, so you might get it fast or near-never: so you should apply ASAP, but don’t count on it coming through. You have to make <30% AMI and/or have been homeless – Eligibility Criteria. Remember to quickly renew your spot each month.

Waitlists can be long, but you do not have to be a current resident to apply. (Source: HUD) (screenshot). If you are trying to relocate, you can apply ahead of time to Section 8 for places you’re planning on relocating to.

However: this can be months, years, or never – these waitlists are long and unpredictable. Unless you are unable to make the move using other affordable housing options, it might be best for this to be an “in case I get lucky” policy rather than a Plan A.

If you are currently receiving Section 8, you can transfer your vouchers to a new city via a process called Portability. To do this, get in touch with your current provider first and they will explain how the process works in their jurisdiction. Also be sure to contact the housing authority at your destination (see list below) to verify availability. Guide on finding a good place through Section 8

As of 4/8/25, the waitlists for Section 8 in Spokane, Olympia, Renton, as well as King County other than Seattle, are closed. Waitlists are open in Seattle, Tacoma, and other cities.

One-time assistance

There are also some emergency rental assistance programs for currently-housed folks in danger of losing that housing, such as NeedHelpPayingBills. Byrd Barr is one such option in Seattle (though this program is not always available); check the 211 list for more options in Seattle and throughout the state.

You can also find miscellaneous assistance via https://www.needhelppayingbills.com/ .

Disability housing

If you’re disabled or have substantial health needs, there may be long-term supportive housing available to you via DSHS, with room and board covered by Apple Health Medicaid. Please find more information at this heading inHomelessness and Housing Assistance .

Low-income Housing by Area

See your regional housing authority for details, linked below:
*: Section 8 waitlist closed. Other affordable housing may be available.

Seattle

SHA (Seattle Housing Authority) operates both regular low-income and senior affordable housing. You apply through SHA.
For “Collaborative Housing”, you apply directly to their partner organizations, though some of them require a Coordinated Entry referral. Many of these are the same affordable rental housing providers on the maps and links linked above like aptfinder.org, though you might have better luck just going to some of the bigger providers’ websites and looking through their available units

Community Roots (they’re great!)
LIHI
Bellwether (notoriously kinda dickish landlords, but oft affordable and have a lot of stock. Can also sign up to get weekly availability emails from them.)
Mercy Housing (may have to call each location for rents?)

Eastside + other King County.*

(Redmond, Bellevue, Issaquah, Woodinville, Renton, Seatac, etc)
See also:

Check out the ARCH website for affordable housing across the greater Eastside. Note, most ARCH eligible places have a waiting list and you will want to apply ASAP
If you’re in South/east King County, also check out Vine Maple Place – they provide rental assistance, housing connections, and more! (Map of Areas they serve)