Wednesday — January 28, 2004

Kipping steps down from housing panel

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"I think that we are finally at the point where affordable housing is generally accepted, and the issues are with the details of specific projects."

— DAVID KIPPING, Blaine-Ketchum Housing Authority

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

After seven years serving on the Blaine-Ketchum Housing Authority, David Kipping has decided not to seek appointment to a fourth term.

His current term expires in February.

One of the board’s original members, Kipping has helped affordable housing gain gradual acceptance in Blaine County. He said it’s been a tiring, and sometimes contentious, ride.

"I have seen ups and downs with the Housing Authority, and wish that more housing could have been developed in the seven years of the authority's existence," he said. "However, I concede my political inexperience and realize now that moving the community to accept, and even embrace, affordable housing is a major conceptual and political shift that takes time."

Kipping said the affordable housing movement in Blaine County has consisted of three distinct steps: convincing people that affordable housing is a real need, adopting regulations that make affordable housing possible and, finally, building homes the county’s low- and middle-income residents can afford.

"The machinery is there," he said. "We’ve basically been in step three for the past year. The climate has been right."

Blaine-Ketchum Housing Director Dick Duncan offered ample praise for Kipping.

"David Kipping has been the bedrock of the organization for a number of years, and we’re very sorry to lose him," Duncan said.

The authority will advertise for county residents interested in filling Kipping’s seat, Duncan said. Approval of a candidate will be up to the Blaine County Commission.

The Blaine-Ketchum Housing Authority, formerly the Blaine County Housing Authority, was formed in 1997 with the purpose of building homes that the area’s low- and middle-income residents can afford.

Under joint financing from Ketchum and Blaine County, a director was hired, and the county’s first price-restricted housing project, The Fields at Warm Springs, was built following a number of contentious public hearings and a political recall attempt in Ketchum that stemmed directly from the project’s adoption.

"The Fields set the precedent for building housing," Kipping said. "There, the big issue was, ‘We don’t need affordable housing in this valley.’ That issue has gone away. People don’t say it anymore. It’s not politically correct."

Another important turning point in the local housing program was the shift from the Blaine County Housing Authority to the Blaine-Ketchum Housing Authority in 2002. In addition to the name change, the transition included adoption of a new joint-powers agreement by Ketchum and Blaine County that established the board’s independence from the two governing municipalities. Rather than work as an employee of Ketchum or the county, the housing director now works for the independent housing authority.

"A big thing was the true independence of the housing authority from Ketchum," Kipping said. "That’s done. We’ve solved that, and I think it was a major accomplishment."

Kipping, who served as the authority’s chairman for one and a half years, also helped keep the organization afloat during a key transitional period when a former director quit and the current director, Dick Duncan, was hired. Kipping essentially served as an interim director during that drawn-out period.

Hiring Duncan "was a painful process, but the end result was very, very good," he said.

More housing is in Blaine County’s future, Kipping and Duncan both predicted. Over the course of the next few years, a couple hundred affordable housing units could be built. Ketchum, Hailey and Sun Valley have all adopted regulations that promote housing. Blaine County is continuing to work on regulations to govern housing in between the county’s five cities.

"It’s starting to click," Duncan said. "The efforts of all the former directors and the past boards are beginning to come to fruition in the number of projects I’m beginning to see come across my desk."

Duncan said there are up to 100 units of affordable housing in the pipeline, some in preliminary stages and some, like the redevelopment of Elkhorn, that are beginning to be reviewed by planning and zoning commissions.

Kipping said his efforts were worth it.

"There are a lot of people who have come around and are saying this is something that’s important," he said. "I think I’ve made a contribution. It’s a stable, ongoing organization. It’s done good things in the past and will do a lot more in the future."

 

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