The 2025 WGA Chair initiative of New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Building Resilient and Affordable New Developments in the West (BRAND West), will focus on expanding access to housing in western states. The initiative will examine strategies to address housing availability and affordability and promote smart and sustainable development in communities throughout the West.
The first workshop of the Western Governors’ Association’s Building Resilient and Affordable New Developments in the West (BRAND West) initiative will be held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on December 17 and 18.
Following years of underbuilding, underinvestment, and extraordinary growth – driven by a complex mix of factors – the West is facing severe housing shortages. The workshop, hosted by Governor Spencer Cox, will examine ways to build more homes by expanding housing options, encouraging innovative funding mechanisms, leveraging infrastructure investments, increasing regional coordination, and planning vibrant, livable communities.
On the first day, programming will explore mixed-use development strategies. Attendees will tour Daybreak (pictured), a master-planned community in the suburbs of Salt Lake City. The second day will feature a conversation with Governor Cox and panels on infrastructure, financing, state and local coordination, and adaptive reuse.
Register here to join in the conversation.
This survey is intended to assist WGA in executing the initiative by identifying: (1) the current state of the housing market in the West; (2) priority issues for gubernatorial leadership to consider in supporting increased access to housing; (3) best practices for planning and developing housing; (4) federal policy issues for potential WGA advocacy; and (5) individuals or organizations interested in participating in the initiative.
Across western states, wildfires have destroyed homes and uprooted communities in recent years. In response, Western Governors are working to provide their residents with stable, reliable, and attainable housing after wildfire disasters strike.
“My administration is laser focused on our state’s housing crisis because we know that having safe, affordable housing is the foundation for Oregonians building healthy and full lives,” Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said. “Part of the solution must include permanent housing for Oregonians who lost their homes because of wildfires.”
Click the link below to read more about Western Governors like Oregon’s Tina Kotek and Hawaii’s Josh Green, who are both working to make reliable housing available to residents who have been displaced by wildfire.
