ALLEGAN COUNTY (WHTC-AM/FM) — South Haven’s speaker series launches its 2019 speaker series with a visit from Ryan Kilpatrick, Ottawa County Housing Next’s executive director.
His topic: Affordable Housing: Obstacles and Solutions in Lake Shore Communities, exploring the many ways in which 50 years of federal, state, and local policy decisions have contributed to the shortage. He then focuses on a variety of local and regional solutions including such factors as transportation, community design, connectivity, and quality of life.
His presentation will be the first at the Integrated Learning Center in South Haven High School, on the east side of the building. Those unfamiliar with the high school should use the main entrance with the statue of the Ram in front.
“The Series grew to an average of 170 attendees in 2018 with two programs exceeding 200” explains Series Chairman Mark Odland. “We simply outgrew the available space at Lake Michigan College. We are grateful to the staff there for hosting our events during the first four years of the Speaker Series programming.”
The talk will begin at 7:30 on April 11, 2019, and will be preceded by a reception with the speaker at 6:45 pm in the school cafeteria.
“Lakeshore communities and South Haven in particular have a huge stake in defining and developing affordable housing” comments Odland. “We believe Kilpatrick’s presentation will have a special appeal to impacted residents, employees, public officials, real estate folks, and others in the business community affected by housing and transportation issues.”
Kilpatrick is responsible for day-to-day management and strategic direction of Ottawa Country Housing Next, which focuses on housing, economic development, land use, and transportation policy.
Bridging the private and public sector, he is responsible for streamlining the development process to build more resilient communities.
His background includes working a a community assistance specialist for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and community and economic development director for the City of Douglas.
He has experience in a wide variety of planning issues and projects such as: transportation planning, sustainable land use, development rights and finance, preservation and green infrastructure, tax abatement programs, brownfield redevelopment, as well as community engagement and visioning processes.
Kilpatrick earned a Masters Degree in Design from Kendall College of Art and Design with an emphasis on social innovation and community development. Working with other professionals from a variety of fields he co-created a new program at Kendall that focuses on the design process for solving systemic problems with in-depth exploration of social enterprise, design-thinking and models of innovation.
Great Lakes advocate and author Peter Annin is set to speak on May 9, 2019, at the Integrated Learning Center, on the Great Lake Compact: A Decade of Lessons Learned. A revision of his book The Great Lakes Water Wars was released last fall.
