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Audience questions at forum focus on housing, cohousing and homelessness; speaker recommends local solutions
Summary
During a Community Foundation forum, audience members asked about funding, gentrification, cohousing, youth engagement and homelessness. Keynote Doug Griffiths recommended small, locally owned projects, pooled community resources and integrated service models as practical responses.
After the keynote, audience members pressed Doug Griffiths on where money would come from for local projects and raised concerns about gentrification and displacement. One resident asked whether community-driven revival risks displacing long-time residents and artists; Griffiths said authentic, locally owned projects and intentional inclusion can reduce that risk and recommended a simple "2-list" exercise to prioritize fixable problems and mobilize volunteers.
On cohousing, Griffiths said he had lived in one and described it as shared ownership of common land and services alongside private residences; he said such models can strengthen social ties and potentially attract new activity to a wider area if they are deliberately integrated with the surrounding community.
When asked about homelessness, Griffiths cited business-led affordable housing initiatives and small transitional units to help people move off the street, and pointed to Nordic models where housing is provided as the first step and services are layered on top.
Throughout the exchange Griffiths stressed local responsibility and modest, repeatable engagement with youth: ask them, ask again, and then give them resources and authority to lead projects. Organizers closed the session by reminding attendees that Project Connect mini-grants are available to seed local efforts.
