local weather Click for Sun Valley, Idaho Forecast
 front page
 classifieds
 calendar
 last week
 recreation
 subscriptions
 express jobs
 about us
 advertising info

 sun valley guide
 real estate guide
 homefinder
 sv catalogs
 

 

 hemingway

Produced & Maintained by Idaho Mountain Express, Box 1013, Ketchum, ID 83340-1013 
208.726.8065 Voice
208.726.2329 Fax

Copyright © 2002 Express Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

Homefinder

Mountain Jobs

Formula Sports

Idaho Conservation League

Westridge

Windermere

Edmark GM Superstore : Nampa, Idaho

Premier Resorts Sun Valley

High Country Property Rentals


For the week of July 24 - 30, 2002

News

Housing director sees hope in transition

Kellett to leave Aug. 16


"There is a general political will, where everybody likes the idea of housing, but it is going to take a super strong person to help see the next project through."

GATES KELLET, Blaine County Housing director


By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

As Blaine County Housing Director Gates Kellett prepares for her Aug. 16 resignation, the Wood River Valley is entering a period of transition that could help or hinder local affordable housing efforts.

Kellett is looking to the positive side of the transition as an opportunity to hire someone who is better suited to the Wood River Valley’s needs and to rebuild the organizational structure of a program she said is somewhat dysfunctional.

It’s also a time for someone to lead the charge toward actually achieving more housing, she said.

"This is a time to be decisive, to be a leader. We need a leader," she said. "That’s something I really want to get across. Someone has to be a leader on this. And this is the political test, to see if the leadership will emerge and be strong. And the next site will be the best site, hopefully."

Kellett is Blaine County’s third housing director in six years. She arrived a year and a half ago with aspirations of sticking with the job for at least three years, "maybe a lot longer." But she came to build housing, and what she did was tinker with ordinances and fight political battles.

Last winter, Kellett fought for affordable housing in downtown Ketchum on city-owned property only to be denied financing. But the political skirmish over the potential development of a central downtown property also raised local residents’ hackles. The project’s opponents presented vehement arguments that hinged on everything from parking to financing, and, in the end, city officials decided not to appeal when the state denied the funding proposal.

"It is my opinion that, today, the political will isn’t there," Kellett said. "There is a general political will, where everybody likes the idea of housing, but it is going to take a super strong person to help see the next project through."

Kellett said her decision to take the housing director’s position a year and a half ago was based on a perception that Blaine County and its cities were ready to build, that former housing directors Karl Fulmer and Steve Amsbaugh had already fought the tough battles and educated the community.

"I said, ‘This group is ready for the next step.’"

And that is where Kellett’s expertise lies. She knows how to fund and build affordable housing. She comes from an urban setting, where she worked for a private developer and helped build multiple affordable housing projects at the same time. And this fall, she will return to Atlanta to head the real estate division of a company called Initiative for Affordable Housing.

"I was very unfulfilled here, because I didn’t see myself being able to build housing in the near future. I want to build housing. That’s all I ever wanted to do. I’m used to working on five or six projects at a time, and I’m certainly able to ratchet that down to work in a smaller place—but, nothing?"

Kellett said her departure is an opportunity for the city-county housing programs to hire someone who has the political savvy to help get the Wood River Valley where it needs to be to embrace affordable housing. It’s an opportunity, she said.

"There is going to be a good number of months, maybe years, where there’s just not going to be much bricks and mortar, and this position needs to be almost a pure administrator-slash-policy person, a housing advocate, minus the actual bonus of being able to build housing, and I don’t think I’m the best person for it."

While Kellett has announced her resignation, she has not quit trying to push organizational changes she said would benefit the local housing programs. It is not yet clear how Ketchum and Blaine County political leaders are going to weigh in on the ideas.

At a Ketchum City Council meeting July 15, Kellett’s presentation to further empower the Blaine County Housing Authority and to dilute Ketchum’s direct control over the housing director was postponed. That discussion has been moved to Thursday, July 25, at a noon meeting.

"I believe this change is necessary," she said.

And despite the struggles, Kellett still has a cup-half-full attitude about local housing efforts.

"We’re on the cusp of being where it needs to be to be successful," she said. "It took Teton County (Wyo.) five years to really start producing housing, with consistent leadership and consistent funding. It’s basically five or six years of getting people used to the idea, spending a lot of time educating, spending a lot of time making people aware. And all of a sudden, people will start to come around.

"I think we are at that place today."

 


The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.