A stable, affordable home creates the foundation for health, dignity, and opportunity. It allows children to focus on learning, seniors to age in place with dignity and respect, and families to plan for the future with confidence. At Mercy Housing, we believe everyone deserves that foundation.

This 2025 Community Report reflects what stability makes possible across the communities we are privileged to serve. It shows how your partnership helps create vibrant, program-enriched communities where families, seniors, veterans, and individuals can put down roots and thrive. Across these pages, you will see that impact through the stories of residents whose lives have changed, the homes we have developed and preserved, and the partnerships that make our work possible. You will also see how this work unfolds across Mercy Housing, where local teams bring our mission to life in communities nationwide.

Guided by our 2024–2026 strategic business plan, Building for the Future, we made strong progress toward our goals. Together, we advanced key policy and legislative priorities, strengthened resident well-being and stability, and launched a five-year endowment campaign to raise $20 million to ensure long-term sustainability and impact. This year also marked meaningful geographic growth. We expanded into northwest Arkansas and Oklahoma, establishing a new regional office in Tulsa. In 2025 alone, we opened 12 new communities and rehabilitated one, providing stable, affordable homes to over 1,200 additional households. Each home represents more than a residence; it represents stability and the opportunity that follows.

Mercy Housing’s work is grounded in one simple truth: Housing is foundational for healthy neighborhoods and economic vitality. We are proud to deliver on this mission with accountability and care.

Maria first experienced Mercy Housing as a child living in one of our communities. Today, she helps lead the organization that opened the door to her future.

Maria was five years old when her family immigrated from Mexico to the United States and moved into Appian Way in Kent, Washington. A few years later, when Mercy Housing acquired the community, Maria began noticing new programs for residents.

“I got involved,” she said. “They had a homework club and a lot of activities, which helped build self-confidence for me.” Over time, homework stopped feeling overwhelming, and Maria began to see how the community’s programs helped her family focus on opportunities. “You know, growing and getting better jobs, better careers than they already had,” she explained.

Years later, Maria’s mother learned from Sonia, the property manager, that the community was hiring a part-time leasing agent and a janitor. Maria, then a restaurant hostess, hesitated to apply because she had no experience. Her mother encouraged her to try.

That step became the start of an incredible journey. Today, Maria is the area director of operations (ADO), overseeing five Mercy Housing Northwest communities, including Appian Way, the place she once called home.

Maria embraces the opportunity to lead others and make a lasting impact. In 2025, she led the Angle Lake lease-up, overseeing the complex process of income qualifications, compliance, and coordination required when welcoming a new family home.

Maria still remembers the moment she realized just how far she had come. “I remember being a janitor and looking at the ADOs, thinking I would never reach that position,” she said. “Now I look back and think, ‘Wow, I made it!”

In 2025, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Peace made a $250,000 gift to Mercy Housing Northwest’s endowment, continuing their long tradition of standing alongside those most impacted by housing instability. Through this investment, the Sisters affirm that a home is not just shelter, but the foundation for dignity, opportunity, and hope.

As a Catholic community of Women Religious committed to promoting peace through justice, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace have long focused their ministries on those who are poor, marginalized, and overlooked. Their ministries have included education, healthcare, and social services — always centered on protecting human dignity and strengthening communities. That commitment led them to fund the organization that became Mercy Housing Northwest and helped lay the foundation for the broader Mercy Housing network we know today.

Guided by a belief that safe, affordable housing is inseparable from human dignity, the Sisters continually ask: Who is being overlooked and how do we respond with justice and compassion?

Today, that vision continues to grow. Mercy Housing Northwest has more than 2,000 affordable homes in development and has expanded into Oregon, increasing the number of families and seniors who will benefit from our service model. Each new community carries forward the Sisters’ quiet but powerful conviction that when people have a safe place to live, dignity, stability, and opportunity can take root.

This endowment gift — along with $100,000 in matching funds from Yield Giving — will sustain resident services such as after-school programs and food pantries for years to come, ensuring residents have the support they need to build brighter futures.