Achievable Housing for All Speaker Series

In part two of this multi-part series, we’ll focus on employee housing and alternative housing types like a rooming house, dormitory, and a campground, as well as discuss some of the strategies, challenges, and opportunities associated with this type of housing. 

Speakers:

Samir Tuma, Founder and CEO of Kila Properties

Jennifer Scharp, Human Resources Director of Palisades Tahoe

Anyone can experience episodic or chronic homelessness- you, a friend, a family member- for a variety of reasons, like financial insecurity, safety concerns, or even illness. In this session, we’ll discuss the critical role shelters play in ending homelessness through a range of support services. We’ll look at data and community response over time and strategies to address issues in the future.

Speakers:
Cathie Foley, North Tahoe -Truckee Homeless Services, Program Director
Jazmin Breaux, Tahoe Truckee Health and Human Services Manager

Preserving affordable housing through deed restriction programs has long been a tool used to allow people living and working in communities where the free market has driven up home prices the opportunity to become homeowners. Join us to learn how the Town of Truckee’s Home Access Program and Placer County’s Workforce Housing Preservation Program are addressing the need for workforce housing.

Speakers:
Robyn van Ekelenburg, Housing Inc.
Lynn Baumgartner, Town of Truckee

Landing Locals operates the Lease to Locals program which unlocks under-utilized units for the workforce by offering government incentives to eligible homeowners who convert their property to a longer term rental. The program has undergone several iterations since it launched in Truckee in 2020 and has expanded to additional markets including North Lake Tahoe as of August 1, 2022. Since Truckee’s program inception in October 2020, more than 75 homes have been leased, 140 local residents have been housed, and ⅔ of the homes have continued leasing long-term after the first year. Join us to learn more about the program- including current eligibility, incentive, and vetting- as well as ask questions about the process.

Speaker
Chase Janvrin
General Manager-Tahoe, Landing Locals

Housing instability continues to increase for our local workforce with rising rents and inflation with many more people living in their cars or on a friend’s couch. While more permanent housing is the ultimate long-term goal, we also recognize that interim supportive housing is necessary for people to be safe and to receive critical support services. Join us to learn more about DignityMoves, an organization founded at the beginning of the pandemic by members of Young Presidents Organization (YPO). We’ll hear about their innovative efforts to end unsheltered street homelessness in San Francisco and other communities by building Interim Supportive Housing with rapid, cost-effective, scalable solutions.

Speaker,
Elizabeth Funk, Founder and CEO

No different from our local workforce, those who work hard to prevent and contain wildfires in our region face serious struggles with finding affordable housing, which impacts everyone who comes to the Tahoe Basin. Join us to learn more about this pressing issue, the ripple effect it has on our community and those who are working hard on finding creative solutions fast.

Speakers:
Matthew Jedra, Acting Forest Supervisor, Tahoe National Forest
Laura Metune, Senior Director of Government Relations & Grant Development, Lake Tahoe Community College
Carlie Murphy, Forestry Education Grant Manager, Lake Tahoe Community College

In June, Vice Mayor Kate Harrison introduced a proposal at Berkeley City Council’s meeting that would ask voters to weigh in on whether to tax the owners of multi unit buildings, single-family homes and condominiums owned by a corporation or LLC that have been empty for more than a year. Harrison said the proposal will help address the city’s housing crisis because it will encourage property owners to rent out empty units.

If Harrison’s proposal makes the ballot, Berkeley would follow similar measures or proposals raised in Oakland and San Francisco, whereby Oakland’s vacant property made about $7 million in its first year of implementation. A staff report estimates that it could also result in 1,000 vacant units becoming available for rent. If the council approves Harrison’s measure, the city attorney will develop language for a ballot measure. The council has until July to decide whether it will be placed on the ballot.

Vice Mayor Harrison will be speaking about the goals and process for the proposal, and a Q&A will be available to discuss how such a proposal could be crafted for the unique needs of the North Tahoe Truckee region, where a significant majority of our region’s housing stock consists of vacant second homes, compared to cities like Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco.

Speaker:

Kate Harrison, Vice Mayor of the City of Berkeley

Many people see allowing mobile dwellings or tiny homes on residential properties as a possible solution to addressing our workforce housing crisis. Join us as Patrick Dobbs shares about Placer County’s upcoming housing-related code amendments and the potential for moveable tiny homes. Jessica Wackenhut Lomeli will speak on the Moveable Tiny Home Ordinance in the city of South Lake Tahoe.

Speakers:
Patrick Dobbs, Senior Planner
Placer County

Jessica Wackenhut Lomeli. Associate Housing Planner
City of South Lake Tahoe

Learn how California’s new “Safer From Wildfires” Insurance Program can create a consistent approach to reducing risk with a list of achievable and effective actions to help make existing homes and businesses safer from wildfires. The ultimate goal is protecting consumers by reducing wildfire risk in their communities, making insurance available and affordable for all Californians. Hear from the California Insurance Commission and our local Fire Districts on this new program and the discounts available for home hardening effort.

Speakers:
Peter Meza, Associate Insurance Compliance Officer
Community Relations and Outreach Branch California Department of Insurance

Durriya Syed, Northern CA Outreach Analyst
Community Relations and Outreach Branch California Department of Insurance

Sean Bailey, Fire Chief/Paramedic
Northstar Fire Department

Erin Holland, Public Information Officer
North Tahoe Fire Protection District

Eric Horntvedt, Wildfire Protection Manager
Truckee Fire Protection District

We continued the discussion started at MHC’s Quarterly meeting in January and brainstormed on how we can use Telluride’s Temporary Winter Community Housing pilot program (an affordable, winter-based housing pilot program for RV vehicles) to start a similar pilot program in our region. 

Speaker:
Stephanie Jaquet, Director of Town of Teulluride Parks & Recreation Department

There are a number of architects out there using innovative techniques like wood construction, which involves taking one of the oldest building materials and applying modern fabrication techniques, in order to come up with new ways to design and build affordable housing that is also more sustainable. Megan Stringer of Holmes is at the forefront of reducing structural embodied carbon using techniques like these. She champions getting sustainable structures built at impressive scales. Joining her will be Lisa Gelfand, managing principal of Gelfand Partners Architects. Lisa has designed and/or supervised over 49 education projects and 6,735 units of affordable housing. She has also served on the Green Committee of the Advisory Board to California’s Division of the State Architect (DSA).

Speaker:
Megan Stringer, Holmes
Lisa Gelfand, Gelfand Partners Architects

Matthew Gile and Don Ajamian of Emergent 3-D are currently building the world’s first 3D printed church and will soon be bringing this technology to Redding, CA as well. 3D-printed houses are created using very large 3D printers that are able to extrude concrete, plastic, and other building materials to assemble a 3D object the size of a house. In doing so, these homes can be built quickly and more affordably, as well as being wildfire resilient, in some cases

Speaker:
Matthew Gile, Emergent 3-D
Don Ajamian, Emergent 3-D

California enacted two laws Senate bill 9 and 10 to create more housing across the state. SB9, the more contentious of the two bills, allows for up 4 units of housing on a single-family zoned parcel. However, its impact is expected to be limited by many housing experts. Join us to reach a fuller understanding of what is and is not allowed under the new laws.

Speaker:
Steve Frisch, President, Sierra Business Council
Jenna Gatto, Planning Manager, Town of Truckee
Devin McNally, Associate Planner, Placer County

The Tahoe Land Bank and Saint Joseph Community Land Trust (SJCLT) work in partnership to provide high quality dignified, permanently affordable homes and supportive programs for Lake Tahoe’s low and moderate income employees and residents. SJCLT’s model includes community participation, perpetual affordability of homes, and homebuyer education and support. Join us to learn more about this model of housing preservation and community stewardship of land.

Speaker:
Bill Roby, Executive Director of the El Dorado Community Foundation
Jean Diaz, Executive Director of the Saint Joseph Community Land Trust

Dr. Michele Barbato will discuss how earthen construction can be used to increase wildfire resilience of homes and buildings. Dr. Barbato, a structural engineer and co-director of UC Davis Climate Adaptation Research Center, is a principal investigator on a grant, “Assessment and Mitigation of Wildfire Induced Air Pollution” from the UC Office of the President. Part of the project includes quantifying the carbon dioxide and other emissions released when homes burn relative to the air quality benefits when homes — and everything inside them — do not burn. Learn More.

Speaker:
Dr. Michele Barbato, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, F.SEI, F.EMI
UC Davis Professor of Structural Engineering and Structural Mechanics and Co-Director, Climate Adaptation Research Center

Hempcrete or hempline is a lightweight biocomposite material used as a breathable material for construction and insulation for energy efficient homes. Greg Flavall, co-founder of Hemp Technologies Global, not only supports ADU construction to create more affordable housing opportunities with pre-approved site plans and green materials, but he has built the first fully permitted hemp homes in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico. Come find out more about housing opportunities provided by Hempcrete at this free Lunch-n-Learn webinar.

Speaker:
Greg Flavall, Co-Founder of Hemp Technologies Global

CA Legislative leaders and Gov. Newsom allotted a total of $12 billion over the next two years to address homelessness and affordable housing, including $1 billion per year for two years in flexible aid to local governments to combat homelessness. This includes significant local flexibility, as well as strong accountability measures. The budget also includes $1.75 billion to build shovel-ready, backlogged affordable housing projects, $300 million to preserve existing affordable rental housing, $500 million in foreclosure intervention funding, $600 million in funding to help local governments plan and implement projects that achieve both housing and environmental goals, and $130 million to build and maintain farmworker housing.

By providing local jurisdictions with $1 billion annually for two years, this represents the biggest, repeat pot of funding for homelessness in California to date. Come learn more about how these funds will benefit local community housing and help to address our housing challenges.

Speaker:
James Hacker, Senate Budget Subcommittee on Housing and Homelessness

A number of MHC partners are eager to find out more about what properties might be accessible for purchase, leasing, or otherwise accessing for housing solutions. In this session, PropertyRadar staff will provide guidance on how to use MHC’s PropertyRadar account to find off-market properties, as well as actionable insights on how to use this data to turn them into off-market deals, based on time-tested strategies the professionals use.

There are a number of benefits to focusing on off-market homes and opportunities, including incredible deals and a virtually unlimited supply. While local MLS services might only have a few hundred properties listed at a time and only a small subsection of those properties might fit particular criteria, there is no such limit when searching off-market. This presentation will include off-market residential, commercial, land, industrial, mixed-use, and other types of property.

Speaker:
Kim Bennett
Director of Customer Happiness
PropertyRadar.com

Learn more about these specific development projects, how they are funded, and why they are restricted in specific ways.

Hopkins Village, currently under construction, is a new for-sale workforce housing development located in Martis Valley.

Silver Creek, pending approval by the Town of Truckee, is a 40 unit planned  workforce housing development located on Brockway Road in Truckee.

Guest Speakers:
Daniel Fraiman of Daniel Fraiman Construction and Hopkins Village
Steve Frisch of Sierra Business Council and Silver Creek

Meadow View Place, Coldstream Commons, and Truckee Artist Lofts are three affordable housing projects expected to open by Fall 2021 in Truckee and Placer County.  Learn more about these specific development projects, how they are funded, and why they are restricted in specific ways.

Speakers:
Azzie Youseffi of Truckee Artist Lofts
Luke Watkins of Neighborhood Partners LLC

Pacific Crest Commons, Frishman Hollow II, and Dollar Creek Crossing are housing projects that reflect a regional approach to achievable local housing in our region.

Housing at Pacific Crest Commons will be between 50 and 60 units and restricted to individuals and families that earn no more than 80% of the area median income.

Frishman Hollow Phase II apartments are designed to be affordable for households earning below 80% of the Area’s Median Income at the time of move-in.

The 11.4-acre Dollar Creek Crossing site aims to provide a mix of for-rent and for-sale housing for local workers. Come learn more about these specific housing projects.

Speakers:
Shellan Rodriguez of The Pacific Companies

As we launch into Truckee’s first short-term rental program this coming summer, speakers will discuss some of the logistics of this program and others, and what offerings they provide to our region. Other topics included:

How short-term rentals affect year-round housing
Short-term rentals and occupancy taxes
Regulating short-term rentals, permit systems

Speakers:
Rosie Johnson, Administrative Analyst- Short-Term Rental Program, Town of Truckee
Crystal Jacobsen, Deputy Director- Tahoe Placer County Community Development Resource Agency

What does “deed-restricted” mean? What do terms like “achievable,” “affordable,” etc. mean? Our experts will discuss key housing terms and tie them to important housing projects and programs in the region.

Speakers:
Anne Marie Novotny, Housing Specialist, Placer County Community Development Resource Agency
Emily Setzer, Senior Management Analyst, Placer County Community Development Resource Agency
Seana Doherty, Housing Program Manager, Town of Truckee