It was a busy year for the Housing Committee. In the summer we had a presentation/discussion with Matthew Ruettgers, Community Director for the City of Albany. Of the many interesting topics, the one that most resonated with the committee is the process Albany uses to work with developers. Basically, all city staff concerned with the development are in the room with the developer to go over the proposed development. The goal is to address as many concerns as possible in a single meeting.
In the following months we met with Albany D-H, Corvallis GT editor Penny Rosenberg who left us with the thought – what do younger people want our housing community to look like?
We also met with developer Bjorn Beers who shared information on one of his projects that would allow condominium renters to own their condos at an affordable price.
Committee members Penny York and Karyle Butcher have been working with Helen Higgins and others to explore ways to bring more workforce housing to our community.
Committee members, Shelley Ries, Lynn Jarvis and Doug Parrish drafted a letter for Board approval urging City Councilors to end the sweeps of homeless camps and urging consideration of a camping moratorium. Parrish has also been providing updates on proposed bills in the Oregon Legislature related to homelessness.
Finally, as we have been doing in December for several years, the Housing Committee led by Kerry Blum and Roberta Smith (and advised and supported by Penny York) provided holiday gift bags for those in our community who are homeless.
We welcomed two new active members: Carrie Ottow and Doug Parrish.