Affordable Housing Block Party

Join us this weekend for an Affordable Housing Block Party hosted by the Teton Democrats! Enjoy local food and drinks while listening to music while visiting information tables from local housing groups, including us! This will be a bi-lingual event, and local electeds will also offer remarks on our housing emergency. See you on Sunday, June 5 at 5pm at the Center for the Arts!

Save the Dates!

We have some exciting events coming up this summer—come join us! Members and potential members are welcome at every event.⁠ Come play Bingo at High Point Cider on Wednesday June 29th and bring a friend! We are excited to participate in our first event in Teton Valley and thank High Point Cider for their support.

We’ll be focusing on election education at our member meet-up in July. We’ll be available to answer all kinds of questions and we’re looking forward to getting our members together in person.⁠ Lastly, we decided to hold our candidate forum virtually so we can record it clearly and make it as accessible as possible to community members. See you there!⁠

Short-term rental change moves to Town Council

The Town Planning Commissioners recently voted to recommend extending the short-term rental minimum from 30 to 90 days. We support this change so short-term rentals remain inside of the lodging overlay (aka be available to rent to locals) where they belong. On June 21 at 1:30pm, the Town Council will be considering this change. We created a template letter (special thanks to dedicated member Ariel Kazunas!) you can fill out to send to the Council: send it over now!

Join our Election Taskforce

The candidate filing period ended on May 27 which means that election season has officially begun! If you are interested in weighing in on our endorsement processes, planning our election events and/or helping us design questions for candidates, please reach out to join our Election Taskforce: shelter@gmail.com

Thanks for your donations

Thanks to our dedicated members who gave during our May matching campaign with Circa Houses and to our new members who have been joining. Of course, a special thanks to Shacks on Racks leader Esther Judge-Lennox for kickstarting this fundraiser and matching donations during that week. We are inspired by all of our momentum!

Legacy Lodge Update

After the County Commissioners’ decision denying Workforce rentals in Legacy Lodge via master leases to businesses, we heard from community members who were frustrated that the commissioners were not supporting homes for locals. Though it seems counterintuitive, this initial “no” vote could be a win for our community. After Monday’s vote to continue the same application, stakeholders now have time to collaborate on conditions to establish regulations for affordability. We feel optimistic about the outcome for Legacy Lodge.

We need to remember that not all housing is created equally. Sometimes we need to say “no” to get to a “yes” that meets our mission to support housing affordability. We hope that stakeholders can use these next four months to come to an agreement to welcome locals into Legacy Lodge.

Hot Topics in Housing

ShelterJH members share relevant media pieces with one another through our Google Group. Here are what our conversations have been about this month:

• WyoFile: Jackson Hole’s wealth forcing out Star Valley’s neediest
• Granicus: Six ways that short-term rentals are impacting communities
• JH News and Guide: Electeds discuss SPET proposals