{"id":8566,"date":"2021-04-01T19:23:24","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T19:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/?p=8566"},"modified":"2021-04-01T19:25:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T19:25:40","slug":"houston-association-of-realtors-tackles-issues-of-diversity-and-inclusion-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/homepage\/success-story\/whatcom-housingopp-04-2021","title":{"rendered":"REALTORS\u00ae Leverage Housing Opportunity Grant to Promote Affordable Housing in Bellingham, Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"With a total of only about fifty properties listed in its MLS, and just twenty within Bellingham city limits, the 850-member Whatcom County Association of REALTORS\u00ae <\/sup>(WCAR) is all-too-keenly aware of the need for increased housing solutions in its northwestern corner of Washington state.\u00a0 To help spur local housing action, the REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> are supporting an engaging \u2018Bellingham for Everyone<\/a>\u2019 campaign with a Housing Opportunity Grant<\/a> from the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party.<\/p>\n

Perry Eskridge, WCAR\u2019s Executive Director, notes that the key to tapping into the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party resources was having a strong partner in Sustainable Connections, a non-profit focused on building strong communities in the region.\u00a0 The REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> have worked closely with the organization as fellow members of the Whatcom Housing Alliance, and Rose Lathrop, Sustainable Connections\u2019 Program Director, was already familiar with several of the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party\u2019s grant programs.\u00a0 \u201cRose offered to write the proposal for a grant to support the Bellingham for Everyone campaign, which sealed the deal,\u201d says Eskridge, explaining, \u201cAs I am 50% Government Affairs Director and 50% Executive Director, with a part-time Membership Director, it\u2019s not always possible to stretch to further tasks, no matter how worthwhile and aligned with our priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

In turn, Lathrop credits the National Association of REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> as being on the cutting edge of the Placemaking movement.\u00a0 \u201cNAR is recognizing the housing affordability crisis across the nation and prioritizing it in its grant-giving,\u201d she says.\u00a0 In Bellingham, she adds, the dire need for affordable workforce housing is ramping up, and homelessness is on the rise, so people are asking more urgently, \u2018What are the barriers? What are the urban growth boundaries? Why can\u2019t we find vacant land in the city?\u2019\u00a0 These are questions that the REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> are addressing on a national level, says Lathrop, and \u201ctheir support is making a big difference to those of us at the grassroots level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bellingham for Everyone campaign set out to mobilize the community to encourage regional housing policies that will bring about diverse housing and increased affordability.\u00a0 With the grant funding, it was able to raise brand recognition and grow its support base by 200 individuals; gain a substantial following on social media; create print and virtual marketing materials; conduct a series of free virtual public education events with topics such as \u2018Zoning 101\u2019 and \u2018The Housing Continuum\u2019; create Neighborhood Welcome Packets with interactive activities and a values-based ad campaign with an upbeat, positive focus.\u00a0 As Eskridge explains, the goal has been to provide education and to combat any prevailing NIMBY-ism by re-framing the infill-housing discussion with a more forward-looking, optimistic tone.\u00a0 \u201cThough everyone\u2019s talking about wanting the richness that diversity brings, Bellingham is, frankly, a monochromatic town.\u00a0 We\u2019re trying to demonstrate that this is not just about what housing looks like; the simple fact is, if we don\u2019t have affordable housing, we\u2019ll never achieve that diversity and all the benefits it brings.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0By educating its base, he says, the Whatcom Housing Alliance is ensuring that the conversation isn\u2019t dominated by a resistant NIMBY element, and that those in favor of increased and equitable housing opportunities can speak up and address specific barriers with an informed voice.<\/p>\n

Lathrop proudly reports that the campaign is already having a positive effect on local housing policy:\u00a0 both the Bellingham City Council and the Whatcom County Council are now considering a new one-tenth of 1% sales tax to benefits affordable housing projects, and the city is looking at a comprehensive re-zoning in favor of a multi-family density increase. \u00a0\u201cWe know that the swell of support and engagement of community members we\u2019ve reached through the campaign is driving the difference.\u00a0 That growth in numbers of allies and the growing range of neighborhoods represented is our best metric of success.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about how the Whatcom County Association of REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> is working to build an equitable future for the Bellingham, Washington region, starting with ample affordable housing, visit https:\/\/whatcomhousingalliance.org\/projects\/bellingham-for-everyone<\/a>\/ or contact Rose Lathrop, Program Director of Sustainable Connections, at Rose@SustainableConnections.org<\/a> or 360.647.7093 x107.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In light of all that\u2019s been learned about racial bias in the past year, the Greater Syracuse Association has been working hard to raise awareness of how the issue is at play in the real estate industry. Using a Fair Housing Grant from the REALTOR\u00ae Party, it presented Bill Dedman, the lead investigator on the Newsday \u201cTesting the Divide\u201d expos\u00e9, as a guest speaker at a seminar for members.","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,296],"tags":[433,204,505,1670,567],"class_list":["post-8566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories","category-success-story","tag-grant","tag-housing-opportunity","tag-housing-opportunity-grant","tag-wcar","tag-whatcom"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}