Housing Resources Bainbridge

For thirty years, Housing Resources Bainbridge (HRB) has preserved the diversity and vitality of Bainbridge Island by providing and maintaining affordable housing opportunities in the community.

When HRB reached out to Ostara, it had not created a strategic plan in eight years. The leadership – including Executive Director, Board and senior staff – all felt the time was right to define strategic direction and key goals. Ostara facilitated the strategic planning process over the course of five months in 2018.

Ostara helped HRB create a strategic planning task force composed of Board members and senior staff, and then led two six-hour planning retreats. Informed by David LaPiana’s Real Time Strategic Planning approach, Ostara and HRB worked together to identify HRB’s strategic advantages and its biggest opportunities. The final result: a strategic plan that the organization uses actively to coordinate work on the organization’s priorities.

As a result of the planning process, HRB is a more visible advocate for affordable housing on Bainbridge Island and is forging a realistic path to increasing the affordable housing inventory they own and manage. HRB has invested in fund development staff and Board training. Today, HRB is having unprecedented success raising funds to create and protect affordable housing in one the most expensive zip codes in the state.