(Photo courtesy of Nancy Holliday)
It never ceases to amaze me to read about new innovations and the incredible amount of professional talent that continues to choose the Truckee and Lake Tahoe region as their home sweet home – and this story will show that this is no exception.
For many years, the region has struggled with housing for all the Lake Tahoe ski resort employees that dream of ‘living the dream’ and working at a ski resort. The jobs are certainly available and pay well – in addition to offering food, rentals, lessons at greatly reduced costs or free, what doesn’t come with the job offer is an affordable home in which to live out that dream.
New “Building Blocks” Bring Affordable Housing to Truckee, CA
In a recent story Moonshine Ink, one of my favorite local independent newspapers, I saw a story that I just had to share in my news section to you today.
Long story short, a group of local businesses “couldn’t take it anymore” and decided to reach out to resources across the country to help lessen the burden on its resort employees and do something about the housing shortage.
As the story goes …
“This December an initial wave of 12-by-60-foot flatbed trucks carrying Truckee housing will roll into town. The homes, stacked like 20-ton Lego blocks, will be bound for the community’s newest housing development, Coburn Crossing, bringing 137 much needed rentals to the market. Closely following will be a second round of homes on wheels headed for the 90-unit affordable housing Artist Lofts project at the Truckee Railyard.”
What’s fascinating about all of this is that this whole idea of doing something ‘outside of the box” started with a grassroots effort by local business men and women.
Today, three hours from Truckee, the affordable housing units are being built inside – not a box – yet an old converted submarine manufacturing site (in Vallejo, CA) from the middle of the last century! And they are being built at a rate of “a unit a day!”
Wrapping this up to keep things short and sweet, here’s another snip-it from the story that tells the rest of the story …
A good fit for Truckee/Tahoe
“Here in Truckee/Tahoe the benefits of modular have the potential to count double. According to Pat Davison, governmental affairs director at the Contractors Association of Truckee Tahoe, the local building industry is strong, but the workforce never fully bounced back from the last recession. She said an influx of modular building, as long as providers savvy to our regional codes and practices, would be “welcomed with open arms.” She also echoed Bradshaw’s sentiments about the changing industry.
“It’s about … being open-minded, being able to evolve, and grow as an industry and that means embracing some of these new ideas and new ways of doing things,” said Davison.
Gotta love living in a place where creative minds work together for all the right reasons!
If you ever want to know what’s going on within the home design and building business in Truckee or Lake Tahoe, feel free to reach out. I’ve been watching the market for over 30 years and would love to share the history that is apparently being made every day!
James P. Borelli
Founder/Principal
Borelli Architecture
Truckee / Lake Tahoe
jim@borelliarchitecture.com
775.831.3060