Chris Estes is the executive director of the North Carolina Housing Coalition, which provides advocacy and resource information on affordable housing for low- to moderate-income state residents. To advance the nonprofit organization’s work, Estes works with such groups as the Association of County Commissioners, the N.C. Community Action Association, Disability Rights N.C. and the N.C. Assets Alliance.

His early career included fundraising for Triangle-area nonprofits, including the United Way, YMCA of the Triangle and the Partnership for Children. He also worked for a regional tax-credit equity syndicator and a nonprofit affordable housing developer.

Estes is co-author of “The Economic Cost of Substandard Housing Conditions among North Carolina Children,” and was selected as a Fannie Mae Fellow to attend the State and Local Leaders Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He also was appointed to the Triangle Chapter of the Urban Land Institute and the state’s Joint Legislative Study Committee on Housing.

Estes’ business and civic affiliations include Reinvestment Partners, the United Way of North Carolina, the N.C. Assets Alliance, Blueprint N.C. and the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Estes earned an undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina, where he was a member of the 1986 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship team. He completed two master’s degrees from UNC.