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For more than a year, a group of mayors and other elected officials have been meeting to create regional solutions to the challenge of affordable housing.\u00a0 The group, co-chaired by Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, Councilmember Connie Ladenburg and myself, is known as SSHAP – or the South Sound Housing Affordability Partners.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been pleased that we\u2019ve had great attendance with a very engaged group of mayors from throughout the County.<\/p>\n
The SSHAP group has been meeting monthly – that is, until COVID-19 hit, and we had to quickly switch our attention and work to dealing with the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Although we aren\u2019t out of Phase 2, yet, I\u2019m thankful that SSHAP has recently begun meeting, again. In fact, our latest gathering was this week. Of course, the meeting had to be held via Zoom, rather than in person.\u00a0 While a digital meeting may be efficient, it\u2019s awfully difficult to build trusted relationships over a computer. Our group is fortunate that we began working through this challenge face-to-face last year.<\/p>\n
As for our work, we have invited housing experts to brief us on the barriers to housing affordability and to propose alternatives.\u00a0 From developers to nonprofit advocates, via stakeholder interviews and focus groups we have heard from a wide variety of viewpoints and perspectives.\u00a0 We\u2019ve also done a deep dive into of our jurisdictions\u2019 permitting guidelines and requirements.<\/p>\n
As we consider a formal interlocal agreement among the participating cities and the County, we have a robust work plan in front of us through the end of this year and into 2021 \u2013 we know we need some early tangible successes and evidence of our collaboration.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m grateful for the many partners we have on the path to creating more attainable housing. Together, I\u2019m confident we will make meaningful and much needed progress.<\/p>\n
Thanks for reading,<\/p>\n
![\"Bruce\"](\"https:\/\/blog.piercecountywa.gov\/executive\/files\/2017\/01\/Bruce-blue-signature.png\")
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Bruce<\/p>\n
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For more than a year, a group of mayors and other elected officials have been meeting to create regional solutions to the challenge of affordable housing.\u00a0 The group, co-chaired by Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, Councilmember Connie Ladenburg and myself, is known as SSHAP – or the South Sound Housing Affordability Partners. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":2608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38509],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n