Affordable Housing for Pullman: Creating Solutions

Thursday, November 29 from 7-9 pm
Neill Public Library

Featured Speakers:

Francis Benjamin, Pullman City Council
Joanne Sellen, Associated Brokers
Dr. Leonard R. Johnson, Palouse Habitat for Humanity
Karl Cozad, Community Action Center
Susie Law-Godat, Portland  Community Land Trust

Featured Speakers followed by Community Discussion  

Pullman--Many community members feel that lack of affordable housing has reached a point of crisis in Pullman. A community discussion on affordable housing will be held Thursday, November 29, at 7:00 p.m., in the Hecht room of the Neill Public Library. The discussion is headed by a panel of professional leaders in the field from the Community Action Center, the Palouse Habitat for Humanity, and the Portland Community Land Trust. It also features a member of the city council and a local realtor, and emphasizes the difficulties facing working families and individuals who contribute vitally to the community but find affordable housing almost impossible to purchase.

"Affordable Housing: Creating Solutions" is organized by the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development. According to Deirdre Rogers, PARD chair, the panel had its inception in discussions with community members and city representatives over the past year, including council member Francis Benjamin. Benjamin advanced the Pullman goal that resulted in the October 30 presentation to the City Council on affordable housing. Rogers hopes that the Neill Public Library panel will continue the momentum generated by the City Council presentation as well as by last March's affordable housing conference sponsored by the Palouse Economic Development Council (PEDC). Where earlier gatherings highlighted the economic factors and difficulties facing developers in meeting the need in this region, this panel will focus on strategies that particular groups are using to make affordable housing available and invite community discussion about how to support and enhance these solutions.

The panel, moderated by Greg Hooks of the WSU Sociology department, will begin with a brief voicing of perspectives from Council member Benjamin and Joanne Sellen of Associated Brokers, followed by presentations by Dr. Leonard R. Johnson of Palouse Habitat for Humanity and Karl Cozad of the Pullman Community Action Center. Discussion will begin after a final presentation by Susie Law-Godat of the Portland Community Land Trust, who will describe how such trusts have helped maintain affordable housing in the turbulent pricing environments of cities such as Portland. All regional citizens and civic engagement groups concerned with this issue, especially members of the business and real estate communities, are urged to attend.

About PARD

As our mission statement makes clear, the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development seeks to increase the economic and cultural vitality of the city and the region through thoughtful, socially and environmentally responsible growth.

We have carefully examined and offered a detailed study of the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter.

We are currently examining several other major projects in the area, including the proposed WSU golf course, the Whitman County Commissioners' plans to develop business along the Pullman-Moscow highway corridor, and the long-envisioned south bypass of downtown Pullman.

We applaud the recent decision of the Pullman City Council to resist County Commission pressure to extend services to the Moscow-Pullman highway. We believe a far more prudent and economically lucrative option for Pullman would be to push development of any county properties south of town on the route to Lewiston/Clarkston.

We also want to applaud local developer Duane Brelsford, Jr. whom we see as a model of responsible development. Brelsford is providing both housing and businesses that are needed locally, while maintaining the character of Pullman. He is also finding ways to link the campus and the downtown to the benefit of both.

Pullman is growing rapidly and many new housing and business opportunities will be coming our way. With regard to apartment and home building, we believe most of the recent developments are sound and useful additions to the city. However, we have one serious concern with local housing and apartment development that we hope the City Council will address. Many cities have insisted that devlopers put aside a certain percentage of new developments for low income residents. Given the increasing cost of housing in Pullman, PARD believes such a requirement makes sense to support low income members of our community.