From Growth to Gratitude: Inside the FHA’s Milestone 2026 Annual Meeting

On Thursday, April 9th, more than 110 members of the floating home community gathered at the Queen City Yacht Club for the 2026 Floating Homes Association (FHA) Annual Meeting—a nearly 40% participation increase from the previous year. FHA President Stafford Green opened and led the session, reflecting on a highly productive 12 months for the association. The mood was upbeat with many moments of sincerity, gratitude, and humor.

As guest Erik Hillesheim remarked during the event:

"This was an excellent event with great turnout and energy. It’s the best neighborhood meeting I’ve ever been to."

Stafford noted that in contrast to the various challenges seen on a national and global level, our floating home community and the Association have grown significantly stronger. He thanked City Council President Joy Hollingsworth for attending and supporting us, as well as other community leaders such as long-time FHA member Dixie Pinter, friend of FHA founder Terry Pettus. Lieutenant Matt Didier of the Police Department Harbor Unit was recognized for his role in keeping our community safe.

Our recent resident survey reflects a strong momentum, with the FHA receiving a 4.8 out of 5 rating—and not a single respondent grading the organization below a four.

Enhancing Communications and Operations

Lilly Effertz, our new Director of Operations, shared how quickly she found a sense of belonging in the Portage Bay floating home community. Drawn to life on a houseboat, she’s excited to play an active role. Professionally, Lilly is focused on streamlining FHA operations by modernizing the member and advertising database and better aligning it with our financial systems. She also serves as the association’s central point of contact at operations@seattlefloatinghomes.org as lead for communications.

Lilly also ran the voting for board members for 2026/2027 (Results announced soon).

Financial Health and Community Contributions

The meeting served as an opportunity to acknowledge the successful Seattle Floating Home Tour (after about seven years; we are now fully recovered from the COVID gap). Inviting the Seattle community into our homes and way of life turned out to be a meaningful way to strengthen our own community. The tour -- made possible by Melissa and Tim Ahlers, a committed volunteer team, and our sponsors -- covered the full cost of this year’s annual dinner for members.

Finance Lead Megan Sutherland shared a financial overview, reflecting the organization’s solid fiscal health. She noted that the FHA books are open for review by any FHA member,

Joan and Spider, longtime FHA Members

A key annual highlight was the recognition of Still Afloat: Seattle's Historic and Iconic Houseboats by Adam Woog, the first in-depth history of our community since Howard Droker's 1977 classic Seattle's Unsinkable Houseboats. When it was shared that Adam would donate all proceeds to the FHA instead of a previously agreed 50/50 split, the audience responded with applause and appreciation.

Strategic Governance

Stafford announced the FHA's transition to a decentralized "powerhouse" committee model. This shift grants individual committees greater autonomy to execute their specific missions, distinguishing execution roles from strategic oversight. The Board now meets quarterly (versus monthly) to focus exclusively on strategy and budget.

Legislative Affairs

Sheri Greaves provided an update on ongoing discussions with the DNR and the upcoming leases. The written results of a recent meeting will be sent to member dock leadership this coming week, followed by a scheduled in-person Dock Leadership meeting within two weeks.

Sheri said that the association has hired legal counsel Forrest Carlson to produce a concise information guide regarding SB 5129 rules to help individual docks navigate regulatory changes. This will be provided over the coming weeks to dock leadership and will follow with another Dock Leadership meeting as needed.

Note that the FHA leadership has grown the Dock Leadership Team from an annual meeting into a quarterly series, bringing together leaders more often from across Lake Union and Portage Bay. The meetings serve as a key forum for exchanging best practices and technical insight. Although focused on elected leaders, Stafford noted that interested community members are welcome—just reach out to Sheri or him.

Key Safety and Security Initiatives

Jason Rungsigul reported on the distribution of free FHA Member emergency contact magnets and the progress of the fire safety signage project, which marks dock lengths to help the fire department quickly deploy the correct hoses. Jason is also available to facilitate professional dock fire safety visits and invited members to join his committee as volunteers.

Technology - Better and Less Expensive this year

David Boschwitz, with design leadership from Becca Galfer, discussed migration of FHA digital tools to a single platform. By moving from scattered, expensive tools like MailChimp into a unified Wix platform, we are saving money and making life much easier for our operations and finance teams. David suggested everyone take a moment to explore the new website seattlefloatinghomes.org.

Environmental and Infrastructure Updates

Katheryn Hayes highlighted strong progress on environmental efforts, including partnering with Rewild Eastlake on native plant restoration to support pollinators. She emphasized continued work on removing invasive plants and clearing debris, while keeping a major focus on eliminating tires beneath floating homes to protect salmon. So far, 103 homes are tire-free, and the committee is actively helping the remaining 410 make the transition. Katheryn also celebrated tire-free docks with reward certificates and reminded us that research clearly shows tires harm salmon—making this an important responsibility for our community.

History and Preservation

A new FHA program to collect community stories this year has been launched. Simply call 1-800-437-3009 and enter invitation code 102863 to leave your recording. The association is interested in any story - old or new. Particularly good stories may be followed up by team members for a higher quality archiving.

Following structural foundation repairs by Derek of Seattle Dive, the exterior of Keasler Cottage - our new FHA club house at 2329 Fairview Ave E - has been fully restored. Derek Voelker was warmly recognized with audience applause for offering a highly discounted rate on the work. Inside, renovations by Stafford and his contractors are nearing completion—a huge transformation from its previous condition. The space will soon be available for free for FHA member dock board meetings and community nonprofits. It will host the “World’s Smallest Houseboat Museum” on Sundays throughout June and July.

Community Connections and Social Resilience

Stafford described both with humor and sadness the terrible luck we had with the weather last August for Dock Rock, but the result of the cancelled event was new community connections and friendships to do more together. For example, Erik Hillesheim (Lake Union Concerts/Paddle Rave) will host two Dock Rock events this coming year on our houseboats.

Seattle City Council President Joy Hollingsworth gives Stafford a hug

Our partnership with the Eastlake Community Council and KEXP has allowed us to share costs on larger social events, such as the past music event at the Eastlake Zoo Tavern. This coming May 6th is a lecture co-hosted with the Eastlake Community Council on the history and environmental future of Lake Union.

Historically, Eastlake Community Council and the FHA had a special friendship - and that friendship is now back.

David explains the new technology strategy for simplification and reduced cost

The Seattle Neighborhood Alliance

Beyond our docks, FHA’s influence and assistance now extends through the Seattle Neighborhood Alliance (SNA) organization. Guest speaker Curtis Atkinson described this new organization founded by Chris Paulus (Capitol Hill), Nikola Davidson (Leschi), and Stafford (FHA). The SNA is a non-political grassroots network that now includes over 30 neighborhood councils - and growing. This alliance allows Seattle community leaders to share what works across the city, making every neighborhood more resilient. They meet quarterly around the city to share best practices and help each other. seattleneighborhoodalliance.com

Stafford concluded the meeting with a call for volunteers to fill roles currently open within the committees. He encourages everyone to be a part of the energy that makes this special community thrive.