The California Housing Consortium (CHC) was founded in 1997 to complement the efforts of established regional associations of non-profit housing developers and service providers by bringing together the private, non-profit, and public sectors in a non-partisan effort to greatly enhance the delivery of affordable housing in California. CHC was originally formed as a 501(c)6 membership organization dedicated to building consensus across the diverse housing industry on issues ranging from expanding and making permanent the low-income housing tax credit program and increasing the tax exempt bond cap to stabilizing Section 8 funding and advancing state general obligation bonds to spur more private sector lending and investment in affordable housing production.

In 2004, CHC was approved by the IRS as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt education and advocacy organization. In an effort to champion housing policies in California, CHC advocates for practical improvements impacting housing production, such as sustaining permanent public funding, improving land use planning, and pursuing prudent regulatory reforms.