Rachel Downes: Creating affordable housing in the community

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 1, 2026

This is one of 12 finalists for The Herald Business Journal’s annual Emerging Leaders awards for 2026. The winner will be announced on April 7.

Rachel Downes, 37

Chief Strategic Officer, Housing Hope

Rachel Downes got into her career at Housing Hope “entirely by accident.”

Downes was working for a senator in Washington, D.C., when she decided to move across the country with her now husband. While job hunting, she discovered the grant manager position at Housing Hope. She had never written a grant before, but knew she had enough transferable skills.

“It’s been a really, really incredible experience working for Housing Hope and learning about affordable housing,” she said. “I’m really lucky to have a career where I feel so much passion.”

Eleven years later, Downes is the Snohomish County-based affordable housing nonprofit’s chief strategic officer. She works with the executive leadership team to provide oversight and planning, while collaborating with community partners.

One collaboration Downes is proud of took root in 2018 when the Legislature took action to clarify that school districts can lease surplus land to nonprofit affordable housing developers to build apartment buildings reserved for student households experiencing homelessness.

During the 2020 legislative session, Downes worked with legal counsel and, at the time, Rep. June Robinson “to pass a bill making a technical correction to state law to remove an administrative barrier to school districts executing these leases in practice,” Downes said in an email.

“The legislature wanted to encourage this partnership between housing developers and school districts to provide that stable housing that will allow kids to succeed academically,” she said.

Now, Housing Hope’s development in partnership with the Edmonds School District is currently breaking ground. Construction for Scriber Place, an apartment building that will house 52 families, began in December. Construction is expected to be completed in the spring of 2027.

“It’s been really an honor to work on it and to be able to see it from initial stages of conception all the way now to where construction is happening,” she said.

Downes has been a member of the Partnership to End Homelessness board since 2022. The following year, she became the partnership’s chair for the Public Policy Committee and an Executive Committee member. She is also a member of the Rotary Club of South Everett-Mukilteo and the Leadership Snohomish County board.

“All over Snohomish County, Housing Hope is a major cog in providing support to those who need it the most,” a nominator wrote. “And Rachel is a major cog in Housing Hope. She believes this is her true calling, and she performs it beautifully.”

Outside of work, you can find Downes spending time with her husband, two kids and their dog, Daisy.

Jenna Millikan: 425-339-3035; jenna.millikan@heraldnet.com. X: @JennaMillikan