Seven locals are forming a brand-new municipal committee aimed at addressing the challenges of Cordova’s housing sector.
Mayor Kristin Smith, who created the Housing Supply Accelerator Committee, appointed the new members during the May 6 City Council meeting: Diana Riedel, Sheridan Joyce, Sheldon Barnes, Shae Bowman, Nicole Songer, Ken Jones, and Barb Jewell.
The committee will primarily be tasked with advising the City Council on strategies to increase housing stock in Cordova, as well as ways to address other housing-related issues.
Local officials have been brainstorming ways to handle the city’s housing shortage over the past few years. The council last year made a series of moves to guide development in town – including by proposing new housing on University of Alaska-owned land in the Whiskey Ridge Drive area, and by inviting the Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP) housing development organization to Cordova to establish a partnership.
Smith said the new committee has “lot(s) of good voices and good experience.”
Those include backgrounds in construction, real estate, consulting, development, project coordination, grant management, and homeless services, to name a few.
“I think it’s going to be a benefit to that committee that there’s such a diverse group of community members,” Council Member Debra Adams said during last week’s meeting.
The committee members’ full applications can be viewed in the May 6 City Council packet here.
The Housing Supply Accelerator Committee meetings will be open to the public.
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