Housing Division By-and-For Application Type Assessment

The purpose of this form is to collect information about applicants who are eligible and interested in applying for funds in any of the programs administered by the Housing Division within the Department of Commerce. Details about program application rounds are being released separately throughout the year, as funds become available. Please visit our Contracting with Commerce page to see our current funding opportunities.


The information provided in this form will assist us in determining which applicants meet the Housing Division definition of a By-and-For Organization. The Housing Division aims to work with By-and-For Organizations on projects and programs that require expertise in reaching and serving a subset of the diverse houseless community in Washington State. If your organization is not a By-and-For Organization, this should not deter you from applying for our Housing Division programs for which you are eligible to apply. We value and honor all work being done to bring equitable housing solutions to WA State.



For technical assistance or questions, please contact Ji Soo: jisoo.kim@commerce.wa.gov


Tribes and Nations:


Tribes, Nations and Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs) are not required to complete a By-and-For assessment to receive priority consideration and benefit in the same way as By-and-For organizations.


Federally recognized Tribes and Nations are distinct governments, not By-and-For organizations. Tribes and Nations will not be referred to as By-and-For organizations but will still receive the same priority consideration and benefit.


Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs) act as the Housing Authority for the Tribe or Nation as defined in section 4 of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103). TDHEs are not required to complete a By-and-For assessment to receive the same priority consideration and benefit as By-and-For organizations.


Organizations that are partnered to conduct mentioned activities supporting tribes and tribal citizens or affiliated with Tribes, Tribal Nations but not part of the Tribal Government should complete a By-and-For Organization Assessment, if they would like to be considered as a By-and-For Organization.


Urban Native or Urban Indian organizations such as Urban Indian Health Programs* should complete the By-and-For Organization Assessment, if they would like to be considered as a By-and-For Organization.


*Urban Indian Health Programs (UIHPs) are private, non-profit, corporations that provide American Indian and Alaska Native people in their serve areas with a range of health and social services, from outreach and referral to full ambulatory care.

(see. Urban Indian Health Institute A Division of the Seattle Indian Health Board)


Housing Division By-and-For Organization Definition:


By-and-For Organizations are operated by and for the communities they serve. Their primary mission and history is serving a specific community. They are culturally based, directed, and substantially controlled by individuals from the population they serve. At the core of their programs, these organizations embody the community’s central cultural values. In the affordable housing context, these communities must have demonstrated disproportionate representation in homelessness, housing instability, and housing affordability.


• Black, Indigenous, or other People of Color including people identified as socially disadvantaged as defined in 13 CFR Sec. 124.103.


• People with disabilities*


• People who identify as part of the d/Deaf and hard of hearing community


• People with behavioral health conditions, including substance use disorder.


• People who identify as LGBTQIA+**


• Survivors of family violence and/or intimate partner violence.


• Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals.


• Undocumented individuals, immigrants and refugees, and mixed-immigration-status families and communities.


*The term disability means: (1) a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, (2) a person with a record of a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, and (3) a person who is regarded as having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. This may include, but is not limited to: people with physical disabilities, people with chronic health conditions, and/or people who are neurodivergent.


**LGBTQIA+ is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and other identities including but not limited to: two-spirit, non-binary, pansexual, agender, etc.

Applicant Organization Information

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Please use a combined total number. For example: If you have 3 executive leadership team members and 5 board members, you would put 8 people as the total number of folks in your organization's decision-making body.

For example: If your organization has 3 leadership team members but 10 employees total, then you would put 7 staff members.

You can find our list of current funding opportunities at: Contracting with Commerce


Primary Contact's Information

Please list the primary contact for this assessment and their contact information.


Specialized Services for Impacted Communities

Guidance for this section: This criterion requires that your organization must specialize in serving one or more of any of the following communities disproportionately impacted by homelessness, housing instability, and/or housing affordability.


Even if your organization serves all of these communities, you do not have to indicate them all.

For Example: 50% to Black and/or African American communities, 45% to people with disabilities OR 90% specialized services, 10% general


Organization Demographics

Guidance for this section: This criterion requires that most leaders and staff in your organization must belong to the communities your organization specializes in serving. It emphasizes the importance of having people in positions of authority and influence within your organization who personally belong to these communities. This ensures that the perspectives, experiences, and voices of communities most impacted by homelessness and housing instability are authentically represented and directly influence the organization's decisions and actions. Please refrain from asking your staff and leadership if they identify with any of these communities just for the purposes of this form. We ask that you use existing available information to determine if folks have lived experience.

For example, if you indicated in question 3 that your organization specializes in serving the Asian community, then please tell us how many people within your board, leadership, and/or decision-making body self-identifies as Asian.

For example, if you indicated in question 3 that your organization specializes in serving the Asian community, then please tell us how many people within your staff self-identifies as Asian.


Organization History

Guidance: This criterion requires that your organization was created to serve or have extensive history serving any of the communities listed in our Housing Division By-and-For Definition. Please be very specific in your examples.


Examples include but are not limited to: history on your organization's origins if it relates to the community(ies) that you selected, past history of partnership with community(ies), how your organization currently specializes in serving the communities you indicated in Question 1, demographics on clients served, success stories, achievements in serving the communities your organization specializes in serving, etc. .


Culturally-Rooted Practices

Guidance: This criterion requires that your organization is culturally-rooted in the communities you serve. Culturally-based practices are culturally-rooted customs, behaviors, values, and beliefs passed down through generations that function as “informal systems of support.” A culturally-based practice relies on intergenerational knowledge-sharing of customs, ancestral history and heritage, traditional practices, and relationship structures that function as key elements which provide comfort, security, trust, and healing for the individual and the broader community.



Examples include but are not limited to: accessibility accommodations, language access services, ways your organization allows for the community you specialize in serving to be apart of decision-making, ways you share power with the communities you specialize in serving, etc.


Optional: Supporting Materials File Upload

Guidance: Please upload any materials, if any, that would help support your answers. Examples include but are not limited to: org-charts, Board member bios, hiring policies prioritizing lived experience, reference letters, success stories, articles. etc. This is not required but is encouraged.


Public Disclosure Statement

Information provided to the Department of Commerce is subject to public disclosure, pursuant to RCW 42.56. Any information provided to the Department of Commerce will be released upon request by any member of the public.

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Self-Certification: Authorized Representative

By completing and submitting this form, I certify that I have the authority to represent this organization and that the information provided in this form is correct to the best of my knowledge.