EXPLORING INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TO THE HOUSING CRISIS

SANDPOINT - Like many communities in the rural west, Bonner County is experiencing a severe shortage of workforce and affordable housing.

Most local residents have stories of friends or family who can no longer afford to rent, nor to purchase a home at the current market prices. Meanwhile, businesses are hurting for employees who either cannot move here nor remain in the area due to the gap between prevailing wages and the high cost of housing. 

Project 7B and Kaniksu Land Trust (KLT) are among organizations in the community searching for solutions. These two have coordinated a panel of speakers on June 9th to discuss one potential tool to address this situation: housing provided through collaboration with community land trusts (CLTs).

“A Community Conversation: How workforce housing can be delivered through collaboration with community land trusts” is the first topic of what’s hoped to be a series of discussions regarding workforce housing, according to Carol Curtis of Project 7B.

One of the panelists is Michael Brown, an expert on community land trusts. Brown has spent his last 40 years working with Burlington Associates with a focus on establishing and supporting community land trusts. Brown also leads the Headwaters Community Housing Trust, a non-profit that is tackling similar issues in Bozeman, Montana. The group has just unveiled their first CLT project: Bridger View. 

Community land trusts are one housing strategy that is being employed in a number of communities facing the same challenges that Bonner County is currently experiencing.

Additional panelists will include KLT Executive Director Katie Cox and Ponderay City Community Development Director Erik Brubaker. The panel will be facilitated by Lisa Gerber of Big Leap Creative. Gerber’s podcast, Breaking Trail, has tackled the subject of growth and affordability in recent episodes.

Following the panel discussion, attendees will be invited to join roundtable discussions to explore the viability of using the community land trust strategy in the Sandpoint area.

To learn more and help to brainstorm solutions, you are invited to attend the event, scheduled for 3:00-5:00 p.m.on Thursday, June 9 at the Columbia Bank Community Room, at 5th and Church Street in Sandpoint. Refreshments will be served. The event is free and open to the public. 

This event is made possible through a grant from the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force and with support from the Selkirk Association of Realtors and the Bonner Community Housing Agency.