STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

A lovely evening on a lawn along the Big Wood River has launched a drive to raise money to provide housing for City of Bellevue employees.

ARCH Community Housing Trust held its second annual Raise the Roof sit-down dinner at the home of Lisa Rose and Marty Albertson in Warm Springs. And Jeanne Herberger, who made a million-dollar challenge at last year’s fundraiser for school staff housing, raised the bar again by offering a Million Dollar Challenge to match 50 cents up to $1 million for every dollar contributed.

That means every $5,000 gift becomes a $7,500 gift, noted Shelly Boettger, manager of donor relations and outreach for ARCH community Housing Trust.

The funds will be used first to complete a duplex in Bellevue for City of Bellevue employees on land provided by the city.

ARCH Executive Director Michelle Griffith noted that the City of Bellevue needs to hire staff who have expertise in the fields of water and sewer capacity and land use as it prepares to evaluate two substantial applications for annexation.

Problem is, the city currently has just three employees and it has more openings than employees.

“Affordable housing is essential to hiring and retaining staff,” said Griffith, who noted that any approved  annexation could pave the way for hundreds of additional homes.

Former Bellevue Mayor Ned Burns, now a state representative, told the audience that his grandparents  sold off land to develop the Chantrelle subdivision at Bellevue’s north end. Thirty years ago his grandmother decided to dedicate one of those lots for workforce housing.

“That was 30 years ago!” he said.

Burns added that when he was mayor the city had 11 employees, some of whom came from Shoshone, Fairfield and even farther away. The business of running a city tends to be specialized niche work, he added.

“It’s a real challenge to get people to live in Blaine County to do this work. They’re going to build a duplex on the lot my family gave the city of Bellevue. They’ve already moved a log cabin to it. That gives the city housing for three employees, getting them from three to six employees.

“Believe it or not, the median price for houses in Bellevue is $650,000. So, the work ARCH is doing so the city can unlock its potential—I’m so grateful,” he added.

But, he added, Bellevue can’t be the only place for affordable housing in the valley.

“It’s got to happen in Hailey. It’s got to happen in Ketchum. It’s got to happen in Sun Valley. You can build a duplex. You can build a triplex. You can build a fourplex. we’ve got to get over this NIMBYism. We’re not going to have the community we love if we don’t have affordable housing.”

Kirsten Phillips doesn’t need to be told how important the work ARCH does is.

She moved to the Wood River Valley from Twin Falls in 1999, and now works at the Board Bin and a farm in Bellevue. But she had trouble finding a place to live after her divorce.

“The owners of the Air BnB my son and I were staying in was needed for family during the holidays. I stopped by ARCH to see if they could help and, two days later, I had the keys to a new ARCH home that I’m now renting in Woodside. The turnaround was so fast I was in shock,” she said.

Phillips was so grateful that she jumped at a chance to become ARCH’s newest board member.

“What they’ve done for me is so wonderful because my son was able to stay in the school he had been going to and we’re able to stay in a valley where we love to hike and snowboard and ski. I love the cause.”

Heather and Drennan Wesley were able to move in deed-restricted housing provided by ARCH when they moved to the valley from Portland in 2015 so that Drennan could teach U.S. history at the Sun Valley Community School.

“We were thinking: This is a great job, but we’re not sure we can afford to live here,” said Heather, who works as a temp at the Community School. “Being able to afford a home where we’re not stretched so thin enables me to do volunteer work in the community. For instance, I volunteer at The Hunger Coalition where I’ve been working with the Peruvians who have been moving to the valley. And, since we don’t have to work two or three jobs, we can do the things people love to do here—like go backpacking.”

Following the event, Griffith said she and her co-workers were thrilled with the community support they have received for housing.

"And we look forward to continuing to building housing for the workforce," she added.

DID YOU KNOW?

ARCH—Advocates for Real Community Housing-- has delivered more than 130 units of affordable housing since 2009, including Blaine Manor, the River Street Senior Community and homes for St. Luke’s employees in Quigley Farm.

Last year’s inaugural Raise the Roof dinner raised $990,000 to build six to eight units of housing for Blaine County School District staff.

ARCH has leveraged more than $675,000 in private donations with federal housing dollars. And it’s secured more than $26 million in federal housing dollars. To learn more or to donate, visit https://archbc.org or https://archbc.org/donate/.