Housing and Homelessness

With Patrick Sidmore of the Alaska Mental Health Board/Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.

The fall meeting of the Alaska Council on the Homeless.
For the full agenda, click here.

A broad overview of the basic elements of housing first project development. Session will focus on site selection practices; creative funding strategies for both capital and operational funding; selecting residents; dealing with opposition; and community relations strategies.

Bill Hobson has been executive director of the Seattle’s DESC since 1988.

Featuring Mark Romick of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, Tyler Robinson of Cook Inlet Housing Authority, Glenn Gellert of Volunteers of America, Corrine O’Neill of RurAL Cap, Mandy O’neal Cole of AWARE, Inc., and John Weaver of VRS.

Featuring Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority Program Officer Amanda Lofgren and Sean O’Brien of the Alaska Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.

Featuring Bill Hobson of Seattle’s DESC.

Opposition to housing first developments can come from a variety of sources. This session will examine strategies to overcome each of these obstacles. It will also examine ways to develop a comprehensive community relations strategy to deal with each preemptively and to prevent them from re-appearing once the project is opened.