Applications open for Lake Tahoe Affordable Housing Forums

LAKE TAHOE, NEV./CALIF. – The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) has launched the next phase of its affordable and workforce housing program, the Tahoe Living strategic priority, and has announced opportunities for additional community representation.

As part of the Cultivating Community, Conserving the Basin project, TRPA is accepting applications for two open seats on the Tahoe Living Working Group and seeking participants to join the Community Partner Group. Both opportunities are aimed toward representing priority communities identified in the award-winning Lake Tahoe Transportation Equity Study that TRPA completed last year.

The agency has also launched a mini-grant program for community-based organizations to help build partnerships, share information, and engage priority community residents and workers.

“The diversity of Lake Tahoe’s communities and the sustainability of the region are fundamentally interconnected,” TRPA Executive Director Julie Regan said. “To protect our environment and revitalize communities in a meaningful way, we need to expand representation of the communities most impacted by the housing crisis.”

The shortage of affordable housing in the Lake Tahoe Region is impacting the environment as well as the workers and families who can no longer afford to live in the basin. Today, half of all workers live outside the region, which increases vehicle emissions and adds to traffic and safety issues.

Cultivating Community, Conserving the Basin is a multiyear project that promotes equity and climate resilience through improved growth management and inclusive community engagement. TRPA formed the Tahoe Living Working Group in 2020 to provide policy recommendations that have helped the agency modernize land use policies and remove barriers to workforce housing. In June, the TRPA Governing Board added two new open seats to represent priority communities.

How to Help Fulfill Regional Housing Goals:

- Attend the first North Shore Housing Workshop on October 7.
- Participate in a Community Partner Group – Get Involved by October 28.
- Apply for a seat on the Tahoe Living Working Group – Get Involved by October 31.
- Apply for a Community-Based Organization mini-grant – Get Involved by December 2.
- Take the online survey – submit by October 31.
- Sign up for the TRPA Housing eNews.

Cultivating Community is being launched with community workshops on North and South Shores. The South Shore workshop was held in September and the North Shore Housing Workshop will be held October 7 at the North Tahoe Event Center in Kings Beach from 6 to 8 p.m. The workshops are open to everyone to share their thoughts and experiences on housing and environmental issues in the Lake Tahoe Region. Spanish interpretation services, activities for children, and refreshments will be provided. Visit www.tahoeliving.org to learn more.