HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-11-23 Public Comment - R. Rydell - Support for creating a Housing Authority in BozemanFrom:Robert Rydell
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Support for creating a Housing Authority in Bozeman
Date:Monday, December 11, 2023 11:10:52 AM
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Dear Commissioners: I am writing to urge you to pause before deciding against creating a
Housing Authority in Bozeman. Just a few days ago, the County Commission, apparentlywithout much thought, made a bad decision to reject a County Housing Authority. Please
don't follow suit without looking more carefully into this proposal.
Missoula, Billings, and Helena all have housing authorities to help with low-income housing. There are newer ideas in Seattle and elsewhere for expanding the concept of low-income
housing to include mixed housing. Before nixing this idea, take some time to think about it.
One place to start is with the stretch of land that runs between the traffic circle on 11th andCollege and South 19th. In 1881 (yes, 1881), the County (yes the County) paid a local
landowner for 160 acres of land to create the County Poor Farm. Don't let the name be off-putting. The "poor-farm" movement was nationwide and a response by communities to the
rapid fluctuations in America's industrializing economy and the growth of poverty amidst thegreat wealth of the Gilded Age. In the early 1890s, much of this land was sold to the college
for its early dairy operations and the poor were housed in different locations, ultimately onland now occupied by the Gallatin Rest Home.
What community leaders got right more than a century ago was that they had an obligation to
address the housing needs of the poor and could do so through the acquisition of land to housethe sick, the elderly, and the poor. No, the county commissioners then were not communists
or socialists. They were hard-nosed capitalists who knew that the widening gap between richand poor would create social unrest. They saw themselves as models of Christian charity.
What can you do on Tuesday night? Here's a thought: refer the proposal to create a local
housing authority to the Community Planning Board for further study. If this really is a badidea, then nix it. If it's a good idea that needs more time to reflect on, it would be a shame to
shelve it in haste.
Sincerely,Bob Rydell
622 South Grand Ave.