The Methow Housing Trust has added two new members to its staff, which now totals five. Simon Windell has been named chief operating officer, and Joel Reid takes over as stewardship and project manager, according to a press release from Executive Director Danica Ready.
“With a growing portfolio of homes, HOAs to support, increasingly complex finances and operations to manage, and ambitions to serve the community with more community land trust homes and neighborhoods, we were overdue for some additional staff capacity,” Ready said.
The organization interviewed a strong pool of candidates for both positions, Ready said. “We were seeking individuals with a passion for our mission, a clear recognition of the complexity of the housing need we are trying to address, strong community ties, and transferrable skills. We found that fit and professional competency in both Simon and Joel. They are already leading important work right out of the gates.”
Windell moved to the Methow Valley in 2019. He grew up in Spokane, studied physics at Seattle University, and spent the next 14 years working in IT designing systems and processes, and building multidisciplinary teams, according to the release. He is a member of the Winthrop Planning Commission.
Reid got his start in the Methow Valley in 2008 as an instructor for the Northwest Outward Bound School in Mazama. Over the last 14 years he has served Outward Bound in multiple capacities both in the field and as an administrator, most recently as the Washington Program Director, according to the release. He moved to the Methow full-time in 2015 and is a volunteer for Aero Methow Rescue Service.
The housing trust will celebrate its fifth year as a newly formed community land trust in May. The organization has served 21 local families with homeownership in Twisp and Winthrop, and aims to serve its growing wait list (currently 47 eligible families) with the addition of 37 additional homes in Winthrop over the next five years, and other future neighborhoods, according to the release.
