KINGS BEACH, Calif. – After the first North Shore workshop was cancelled due to the Davis Fire, the Tahoe Living team rescheduled their “Cultivating Community” workshop to October 7, giving North Tahoe residents an opportunity to talk about what they want to see in housing development.

The Tahoe Living Working Group was started by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) in 2020, which provides policy recommendations that modernize land use policies and remove barriers to workforce housing. Their newest Tahoe Living project, “Cultivating Community, Conserving the Basin” is in its third phase where they look at the development rights system and prioritize preventing displacement of local residents.

Previous phases of the project helped with accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and transforming motels into housing, as well as reducing the cost of workforce housing. Now, the project is holding workshops to get an understanding of what the community needs are.

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“What we’re experiencing in Tahoe is happening not just in resort towns, but all over the world,” said Julie Regan, executive director of TRPA. “Housing has hit a critical point.” The TRPA presented data that showed that there’s been a 12% population decrease since 2000. However, the population that has settled here is increasingly older and more diverse, with more residents who identified as Hispanic.

More worrying, only 28% of Tahoe residents can actually afford the median home price. As a result, residents have to rent rather than buy, and the workforce continues to be pushed out of the area. 50% of Tahoe jobs are filled by workers living outside of the region.

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While TRPA famously restricts how much development is happening in the area in order to protect the environment, Jacob Stock, senior planner at TRPA said, “Affordable housing and environmental protection complement each other—they go hand in hand.” As stated on their factsheet for the project, the TRPA is trying to “promote equity and climate resilience through improved growth management and meaningful community engagement.”

Eric Yurkovich, a community planner with Raimi and Associates in Berkeley, Calif. helped to design the workshops run by Tahoe Living. Yurkovich said, “The goal tonight is to tap your local knowledge in this process.”

Attendees shared their experiences of being pushed out of their homes due to what they suspect were lease to locals programs, houses being foreclosed in South Shore and moving to North Shore, and working several jobs, still living paycheck to paycheck in order to afford where they live. One attendee indicated that most of the staff of the public utilities district commute from Reno or Carson City—a difficult task for what is technically a 24/7 job.

A majority of the workshop was spent in small group discussions around four different topics: housing problems, information needs, ideas for housing, and intended outcomes of the project. Some attendees like Erin Casey and Karolina Scarcia of the Tahoe Housing Hub came with a background of understanding housing needs on a large scale in the area. Others were residents and business owners who shared their experiences and how they were affected by current policies.

One business owner, who also works as an engineer, pointed out that current policy made the lion’s share of work fall on those applying to make changes in the community, such as updating power and utilities or trying to build an ADU on their property. Others pointed out the need for modular housing and smaller scale units that could be turned around quickly.

Both Danielle Hughes from the public utilities district and Kerstin Kramer, superintendent of the Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District expressed interest in workforce housing for their employees. Kramer spoke about how the school district is actually working on a parcel, but that they intentionally first selected a parcel that was outside of the TRPA district since they worried that TRPA would stop the fast tracking for construction.

Andrew Ryan, a business owner in Kings Beach, pointed out that property taxes were causing issues for those who were interested in development, as well as the fact that single-family homes that were distal to city centers were in opposition of the environmental goals TRPA set out—but appear to have the most support given current guidelines.

Ryan also said he was interested in a focus on putting dollars into local hands, especially for finding a “small army of local developers” that would help keep money circulating in the community.

Overall, attendees were interested in having more flexible approaches to housing and income requirements, mixed-use models that prioritize both business and affordable housing, making development rights more accessible, and creating incentives for people to go through the process of development. Others also suggested following the model of land trusts such as Saint Joseph’s Community Land Trust to maintain affordable housing for years to come, as well as considering that the Washoe tribe, who has historically wanted to return to the Basin, needed to have housing and space as well.

Karen Fink, housing and community revitalization program manager, said, “We’re really excited about all the participation we got.” She indicated that while the attendance was comparable, they had slightly more attendance at the North Shore workshop. Fink also highlighted that this workshop had discussions about the North Shore connection with Truckee, mobile homes, the quality of housing in the area, how many people were commuting from Truckee or Reno, and housing for the seasonal workforce.

Stock said much the same. “There was a lot of overlap between the two groups and a real diversity of ideas and perspectives,” said Stock. “One moment that I thought was interesting was that there were two business owners speaking about seasonal housing—one was a summer-focused business owner, the other one was a winter-focused one, so I think that brought a lot of perspective to both of them and the group.”

Both Fink and Stock agreed that the workshop allowed for open discussion on what they felt was important. Fink said, “It was great to see everyone really talking, listening, getting to know one another, and collaborating on ideas.”

The next workshop for this project will be held sometime in early spring, but the project offers an online survey and all materials in both English and Spanish. More news about the Cultivating Community, Conserving the Basin project, including a link to sign up for their e-newsletter, can be found on their website at tahoeliving.org.

Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.