TRUCKEE, Calif. – On Tuesday, the North Tahoe Community Alliance (NTCA) hosted their March Power Lunch at Northstar Village’s Rubicon Pizza, bringing three speakers to speak about workforce housing—one of the top issues for North Tahoe.

Kimberly Brown, director of business and community relations for the NTCA, introduced the speakers: Placer County Tahoe housing specialist Tim Cussen, CEO and president of the Tahoe Housing Hub Erin Casey, and Placemate senior market manager Isaac Landman. “This is our most popular topic,” said Brown. From the Business Walks last year and other surveys that NTCA has conducted, housing is a number one priority for many.

Cussen outlined the different programs that Placer County offers to aid with workforce housing, such as the Workforce Housing Preservation Program (WHPP) that helps to deed restrict new housing using grants for prices up to $150,000. To date, 13 properties have participated—two condos, one duplex, and 10 single-family properties.

The Launchpad Housing Incentive, which was initially presented to the Board of Supervisors at a workshop in August last year, offers incentives from the county to help applicants construct local workforce housing units. It also requires a deed restriction for housing requiring occupancy by a household that includes a member of the local workforce.

Hopkins Village, which has only three more units available, is local worker housing for moderate income earners, built as a development obligation from Martis Camp. The property helps to address the “missing middle” of area median income earners who still may be unable to afford the higher prices in the Basin.

Cussen indicated that the new property that the county is considering, Dollar Creek Crossing, will likely be affordable housing—generally defined as below 80% of the area median income. Some of the land will likely be reserved for future projects, but the idea to have mixed-income housing didn’t pencil, due to the difficulty in funding for the missing middle. Still, Dollar Creek will have at least 80 affordable units on the 11.4 acres on site.

Casey brought forward more information on the Tahoe Housing Hub’s mission and definition of affordable housing. To them, affordable housing should focus on reducing cost burden across income brackets—that no one should be paying more than 30% of their household’s total income on housing.

One of the major strides the Tahoe Housing Hub has done is the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Accelerator program, which helps property owners to plan, construct, and lease ADUs. Casey told attendees that there was a need for financial incentives because the cost of development is high, and applicants don’t have the ability to offset the risk. The current rough cost estimate is $0.5 million, but the Hub is working on researching pre-built ADUs that fit the character and building requirements in the Basin, which would offset the cost.

Landman spoke to the successes of the Lease to Locals program, which unlocks existing housing stock and aims to serve the missing middle, while providing cash incentives to property owners who participate. Among East Placer County and Truckee, 324 total properties have participated in the Lease to Locals program. 83 properties are in active leasing, and of the 239 properties that have graduated from the program, nearly 70% continue to lease to existing or new tenants.

The Rooted Renters program, which started last summer in Truckee, has also seen success. The program preserves existing workforce housing rental units that are at risk of selling or short-term rentals, offering three-year cash incentives to lock in rentals at an affordable rate. The incentives vary based on unit size and the length of time for the lease, but incentives grow progressively larger the longer that the property is rented.

23 properties have been preserved for the next three years, and 55 renters have signed at least one-year leases. But there’s been a large waitlist and Placemate expects to introduce a new cohort this upcoming summer, pending their review on April 9^th. “Truckee is a great example… we haven’t seen a slowdown in interest,” said Landman. He expects positive results from their review meeting.

While Placer County isn’t currently prioritizing a potential Rooted Renters program, it’s been brought up among South Lake Tahoe’s city council, showing the need for workforce housing around the lake.

The next NTCA Power Lunch will take place on April 22 and will focus on marketing strategies.

Edit: Clarification regarding the Launchpad programs origins have been made.

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.