Puget Sound Energy sponsored the first edition of the Housing Resources Bainbridge (HRB) digital newsletter — The Homepage. When HRB is not developing new homes or repairing older ones, it can be hard for someone who is not a resident in the HRB community to see the work that happens day in day out. This quarterly newsletter allows them to highlight the stories of impact and efforts underway. In an interview with Rental Property and Homeownership Programs Manager Marta Holt, readers can see how HRB works with tenants and homeowners over the long term by overseeing the homeowners’ association at Ferncliff Village, providing low interest loans and help with refinancing during times of financial stress, providing rental assistance and social services to qualified households, and more. As Holt says, “We see our tenants as clients to be supported and advocated for, not as assets or liabilities on the bottom line of the books.”
HRB thanks PSE for helping us share the message that affordable housing is a means to a more inclusive and healthy community.
The first newsletter featured Brittany Wisner, who grew up on Bainbridge and just moved back home thanks to an HRB apartment. She works at Bainbridge Youth Services and now lives in the community she serves. HRB also explained what a community land trust is and how this model allows HRB to keep its homes permanently affordable to low- and moderate-income households. To receive the fall issue, sign up here.