If there was one challenge for the entire region to put at the top of the list – a challenge that has the widest spread with the largest impacts – you’d be hard pressed not to put housing at the top of that list. Everything from workforce to childcare options (and everything in between) can probably have a line drawn to them as an effect of having limited options. Affordable, attainable, call it what you want, but the challenges around housing have been extensive and well documented.

But you know all that. You or your family have probably have been affected by the challenges around housing in one-way or another. For many members of the community, they live and breathe these challenges every day. Many times by talking about challenges out loud, it can often lead to solutions and understanding with set goals to improve. So, that’s what we’re going to do.

In the coming months, as a partnership between the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, The Mountain Housing Council and the Sierra Sun, we’re going to be putting the issues around housing on the front burner. Not only do we want to highlight the good things that are being done around housing and discuss the challenges, we also want to let people know how they can get involved. We want to gain insight into specific drilled down issues so that we can better understand what’s needed and, ultimately, how we can work to fix it.

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Polls will also be crafted with questions that we will be seeking feedback on and this is where we will be asking the support of the community on. The more people who provide feedback during these polls the more understanding we will glean. The more understanding the better the potential solution – it all feeds off each other.

The Mountain Housing Council’s mission is to accelerate solutions to achievable local housing for those that live and work in the North Tahoe-Truckee region. Our part in this effort is to put a megaphone behind the efforts to support this mission and not only bring to light what you may not know, but also engage the community to get more involved.

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Knowledge is power. And by understanding what is or isn’t being done around achievable housing, it empowers you to potentially make a difference and find solutions. Solutions in this area, whether big or small, will make a difference.

We hope you’ll be on the lookout to get involved.

Rob Galloway is publisher of the Sierra Sun. He can be reached at rgalloway@swiftcom.com or 530-542-8046.