The Housing sub-series covers a wide range of issues including low and moderate income housing, homelessness and shelters, renovation and rehabilitation of existing housing, senior and special needs population housing, and needs of specific geographic areas of the City. There is a substantial amount of material covering the Centeral Area Draft Development Plan and Area Action Plan, housing levies, the Housing Preservation Ordinance, and housing and related social service needs in downtown Seattle. Although alternative housing does not comprise a large portion of these records, there are files of interest on co-housing, cooperative housing, homesteading, and mobile homes.

Low income and senior housing records document the policy development and implementation of programs such as Section 8 housing, Scattered Site housing, and specific building projects such as the Morrison, Aloha, and Oregon hotels. Rehabilitation programming is documented in records of the Neighborhood Housing Rehabilitation Program, Rental Rehabilitation Program, and Section 312 Program.