Stuckart to lead low-income housing organization

The Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium has tapped former Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart to serve as its next executive director.

The nonprofit, which has more than 30 member organizations, announced the hire on Thursday.

As council president and candidate for mayor, Stuckart persistently advocated for policies he believed would increase access to housing in the city’s increasingly tight market. He views his new role with the low-income housing consortium as an extension of that work.

“I want to work in housing; this is my passion,” Stuckart said.

Stuckart lost his bid for mayor to Nadine Woodward last year and left office after two terms as City Council president at the end of 2019. In the months since, he’s launched a consulting business, Forward Principle Consulting.

The executive director position at the Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium, which Stuckart described as “half-time,” will be in addition to his consulting work.

“Ben brings a wealth of knowledge to our membership organization,” said Edie Rice-Sauer, chair of the organization’s board, in a statement.

Stuckart said the organization should serve as a central source for data and information about the availability and supply of low-income housing in Spokane. The consortium put out the most recent report on low-income housing in Spokane, but it hasn’t been updated in about three years, he said.

As the consortium’s executive director, Stuckart also plans to lobby the government at various levels for policies that will increase affordable housing access. At the state level, Stuckart is championing a bill under consideration in the Senate that would allow cities to apply a local sales-and-use tax to fund housing projects – without a vote of the public.

“I need to be working with all the partners in making sure that we have a really strong policy advocacy voice in (Washington) D.C., Olympia and locally,” Stuckart said.

The new role is a return to nonprofit leadership for Stuckart. From 2007 to 2011, he served as the executive director of Communities in Schools of Spokane County.

Stuckart will replace outgoing Executive Director Kay Murano.