Fall News Updates
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Housing, The Long Road Ahead...
As we continue our journey to stable, healthy housing that everyone can afford, we recognize the long road ahead of us and the collaborative effort this undertaking entails. No one organization can solve the housing issues we face but together with advocacy, coalitions, non-profits and other organizations, Home2Health hopes to make actionable change that will get our community moving in the right direction, after all, housing is not just a problem of affordability, it’s a problem of humanity.
It is hard to believe it has been nearly eight months since Home2Health’s first Strategic Doing™ event in January. The idea was to bring together various stakeholders in housing to assemble into small collaborative working groups focused on small but doable projects that aimed at improving housing in Fort Collins. These groups focused on themes that emerged from our first stakeholder event in November of last year which included Education, Outreach and Narrative, Incentives, Policy and Development, Programs and Funding and Research. These themes inspired small projects such as developing a spreadsheet of local resources, completing community member facilitation training, hosting a community conversation at Redtail Ponds, just to name a few! We will be holding a Strategic Doing Wrap-Up Celebration virtually for those that participated at the January event on September 29th from 6-7pm. For more information contact svanzee@fcgov.com
New Housing Plan Update Begins! The City has started updating the Housing Strategic Plan that guides housing policy, sets housing goals, and creates a framework for City investments in the housing system. This plan is a collaborative, citywide effort being led by a team of staff and partners from Planning Development and Transportation, Social Sustainability, and Home2Health. They have their work cut out for them over the next few months – adoption is planned for February 2021! While previous plans have focused solely on designated Affordable Housing, this iteration of the Housing Strategic Plan will be a bit different. Council has directed staff to address the entire spectrum of housing needs in our community. The draft vision – Everyone has stable, healthy housing they can afford – reflects this shift in how the City is thinking about housing for all. Engagement through Home2Health will ramp up in October, so stay tuned for more details on opportunities to engage with us this fall.
Council Forms Ad-Hoc Housing Committee: Affordable and achievable housing is one of City Council’s adopted priorities. Accordingly, City Council has established an Ad Hoc Council Committee to support the development of the Housing Plan. Mayor Pro Tem Kristin Stephens, Councilmember Ross Cunniff, and Councilmember Emily Gorgol are serving on the Committee and plan to meet monthly through April 2021. You can find more information about committee meetings, view recordings and read agenda packets at the committee’s website.
The next Committee meeting will be September 17, and all are welcome to listen. Work Session Recap: On August 25, Housing Strategic Plan co-leads Meaghan Overton (PDT) and Lindsay Ex (SSA) presented the approach for the Housing Strategic Plan to City Council. Council was supportive of the draft vision, the engagement plan, and the proposed timeline. Council was particularly interested in quantifying and measuring housing needs and goals. A first step in this work is the completion of the Existing Conditions document to outline our greatest challenges and remaining questions. If you want to learn more, you can watch the work session or review the agenda materials. The Housing Plan will go back to Council for a work session on December 8th.
The Home2Health project has concluded. For information about ongoing Housing Strategic Plan implementation, please visit https://www.fcgov.com/housing. Thank you!
