[Whitmandemsannounce] Affordable Housing Panel, 29 November

[Nathan Horter]

Affordable Housing Panel, 29 November 2007, Neill Public Library, Pullman

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.