Chris Genese Joins Housing Trust Fund Project Team
The Housing Trust Fund Project is thrilled to welcome Senior Organizer Chris Genese to our team. Chris will be working with Katy Heins and Michael Anderson to build, grow, and expand state resident organizing networks, and to support state and local housing trust fund initiatives. Chris brings more than nine years of community organizing experience. He has organized networks of community members to lead campaigns on housing justice, ending mass incarceration, food access, immigrant rights, and building political power in communities of color.
“In virtually every corner of the country, families are struggling to keep a roof over their heads,” said Chris. “People want to come together to resist unjust evictions, to protect immigrants from abusive landlords, to slow gentrification and to fund affordable housing. The time is now to dig in deep and build a powerful movement led by those most impacted by the housing crisis to ensure that everyone in our nation has a place to call home.”
As the former Associate Director of Washington CAN, Chris oversaw long-term base building and campaign strategies in six geographic regions across the state. He coordinated and led outreach, lobbying, media, and policy strategies. Chris got his start organizing people of color and low-income people to resist foreclosure evictions from their homes in South Seattle after his own family lost their home in the 2009 housing market crash. Chris also researched and authored reports on the impacts of legislation on racial equity in Washington State. He is a former board member for Real Change News and the White Center CDA. Currently residing in Seattle, Chris will be based out of Washington DC.
