Pullman set to benefit from successful affordable housing program. You can help!
Commentary by Megan Guido | Pullman City Council Member
Finding affordable housing in your community is sadly becoming a universal problem. As a Pullman City Council member, I am working to provide more affordable and accessible housing in Pullman.
As part of this, I am excited to let you know that Hills & Rivers Housing Trust, Inc. in Moscow, Idaho (formerly Moscow Affordable Housing Trust, Inc.), is expanding into Pullman. That means Pullman can benefit from the same successful model that Hills & Rivers Trust has implemented in Moscow, Idaho, in which five affordable Trust houses have been completed and five more are for sale.
The Hills & Rivers Housing Trust has already applied for grant funds for a three-house project in Pullman in 2025. Stay tuned — grant awards are announced in December!
How does it work?
A Community Land Trust is a national model for creating permanent affordability. Homeowners buy the house. The Trust retains the land (lowering the cost of the purchase). A resale formula keeps the home’s value from appreciating faster than area wages.
Brief history
Moscow Affordable Housing Trust incorporated in 2009. In 2014, the Trust hired Nils Peterson as its first executive director. In 2020 the first three land trust homes were sold. Then COVID caused a delay as prices went crazy.
In 2022, the Trust entered a collaboration with the architecture program at the University of Idaho for a small team of students to design and build a house on Trust land. In 2024, the Trust celebrates the completion of the third house designed and built by University of Idaho students. It is currently for sale. To get a jump on 2025, the foundation for the next house has already been poured.
In 2023, Palouse Habitat for Humanity signed a memoradum of understanding (MOU) to partner with the Trust by building a Habitat house in the same neighborhood.
I joined the Hills & Rivers Housing Trust Board of Directors in September 2024. I am excited to be working with a dedicated board of volunteers and professionals that provides homeownership opportunities for the entire Palouse community.
How you can help
To make this Moscow-Pullman partnership a success, I am asking you to give during this special fundraiser for Hills & Rivers Housing Trust. It is through Avenues for Hope, which is an online fundraising platform for Idaho Housing organizations. Please don’t let that throw you. Your donation to Hills & Rivers will go to our regional efforts to establish Trust housing in Pullman. Please give Dec. 9 through December 31 at the website here.
Your support can mean the difference between the death of the American dream and the possibility of homeownership for the people you know in your community.
