Northwest Housing Alternatives

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
930814473
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Milwaukie, OR, USA
Phone
5036541007
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Low-Income & Subsidized Rental Housing

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$21,378,716
Expenses
$21,539,673
Assets
$86,103,744
Liabilities
$48,002,215

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • STEVEN PHAN (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • TRELL ANDERSON (EXECUTIVE DI): $202,692 total reported compensation
  • DESTIN FERDUN (REAL ESTATE): $195,389 total reported compensation
  • RAY HACKWORTH (COO/ASSET MG): $192,656 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Northwest housing alternatives (nha)s mission is to create opportunity through housing. Nha develops, builds, and manages affordable rental housing for families, seniors, and people with disabilities across Oregon. These homes help families live healthy and stable lives, allow older adults to age in place, and give people with special needs a dignified residence. Nha is always working to enhance our portfolios sustainability and works closely with local partners to drive innovations in our field. Along with providing affordable housing, nha provides services that connect residents to critical health and community resources, work to prevent homelessness before it begins, and offer emergency shelter and services for families experiencing homelessness.

What it reported doing in 2024

Resident services - nha links residents of multi-family and senior properties across the state to services that keep them stable in their housing and connected to their community. Core services include eviction prevention, information and referral, and onsite programming targeted to a specific building's population. During 2024, resident services responded to 2,828 requests for services, and coordinated 697 onsite events for nha residents. 93% of residents maintained or improved their housing stability as a result of resident services interventions. Additionally, the department continued an individual development account (ida) program in partnership with casa of Oregon. This program provides nha residents with a matched savings account that can then be used to fund post-secondary education, purchase of their first home, start of a retirement savings account, or purchase of a vehicle. Group homes - nha owns and manages 53 group homes with a total of 238 units across Oregon. The group homes serve individuals living with developmental disabilities, chronic mental illness, and individuals in recovery. The homes are leased to licensed care providers. Asset management - nha provides asset and partnership management to 51 multifamily properties totaling 2,616 units. The funding and regulatory requirements for these properties include lihtc, hud 202 & 811, home, cdbg, Oregon housing trust fund, and other sources. These properties provide affordable housing for the community and some properties provide specialized housing for individuals with chronic mental illness or in recovery from addictions. Our asset management insures the financial viability, physical longevity, and risk management of our multi-family assets. Advocacy and public policy - nha seeks to advance the importance of affordable housing in the public policy sphere and works to promote anti- racism across all aspects of our work.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.6%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 90.4%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.45 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.8%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.56; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.7%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91.6% of revenue deployed · 90.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $19.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $203K · 15 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $11.4M reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 69 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 28/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.