John Demboski joins the Multifamily Housing Unit as managing director

John Demboski joined the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Multifamily Housing Unit (MHU) earlier this month.

John is an affordable housing specialist and community leader with experience in Washington and Oregon. At MHU, John will partner with the management team to oversee the unit and its $1.8 billion portfolio of multifamily rental affordable housing projects. John’s extensive experience will help him develop policies and resources to address the housing needs of low-income and vulnerable families and individuals by engaging with tribes, community stakeholders, nonprofits, housing authorities, public funders, and people with lived experience of homelessness and housing instability.

John served 16 years in two positions at the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development in the Seattle Regional (later Washington State) office. He was an asset management project manager in the Office of Multifamily Housing from 2008-16, then a community outreach and liaison specialist, promoting HUD programs across a variety of stakeholder engagements. Prior to HUD, John was the Occupancy Manager for the Housing & Community Services Agency of Lane County, Oregon, for five years. He led the team that managed HUD Public & Multifamily Housing. John also chaired and served as a citizen member of the City of Eugene Budget Committee, overseeing all aspects of the city’s $498 million annual budget. Before moving to housing in 2003, John managed a branch office of the Oregon Department of Justice, Division of Child Support, and he worked for the Nevada State Welfare Division in Reno. From 1987-93, John served overseas as a civilian employee of the Department of Defense in human sources intelligence, having previously served in the U.S. Army from 1983-87. John holds a degree in liberal arts from Excelsior University and professional certificates in public management and commercial real estate development. In his spare time, John and his family help organize Norwescon, a science fiction and fantasy convention held annually in SeaTac.

We welcome John to his new role, and thank Acting Managing Director Shawn Slape, who served in this role for the past 13 months.