Painting a Better Tomorrow is a one-day experience unlike any other. Join us Nov. 10 to help us paint and change someone’s life forever—maybe even your own.

Few things feel better than closing the books on a successful project. Especially one fueled by kindness and compassion.

Whatever your designation in the world of residential homebuilding, you have a calling. Sometimes that calling extends beyond the job site or office. Because, at the end of the day, our collective job is to provide housing for the millions of people who make the Puget Sound region home.

Shoreline Veterans Center

We are the lucky ones. We get to give people a place they can call their very own. Sometimes this space is temporary or shared with others. But it doesn’t make it any less theirs. Take the folks who reside at the Shoreline Veterans Center, a Compass Housing Alliance property. The center is a 25-bed facility for honorably discharged homeless veterans who seek rehabilitation from drug, alcohol, or other issues. The goal of the center and its internal program is to help residents resolve their issues and learn to live on their own as contributing citizens to their communities. Upon graduation from the two-year program, veterans are then moved into their own apartment, but return to the center for ongoing counseling.

This year, MBAKS is proud to partner with the Veterans Center for Painting a Better Tomorrow 2018. Painting a Better Tomorrow, or PBT, is an annual one-day service event where association members and community volunteers add fresh paint to the walls and surfaces of a local nonprofit organization. This is where you come in. Even if you’re not a painter by trade, we want you to volunteer! There are plenty of tasks to keep you busy throughout the day and we can all but guarantee that you’ll have a fantastic time helping out a few of our well-deserving neighbors in need.

Volunteer—Just Do It!

Pull together a team of co-workers, friends, or family—or come as an individual and make some new friends and memories! MBAKS provides all the supplies for the event, including breakfast snacks and lunch, as well as our ever-popular, totally stylish PBT t-shirt so you look good while doing good. When you close the books on this project, your life, and those of the Shoreline Veterans Center, will be forever brighter.

Contact Michell Filleau-Maas, 425.460.8232, today, right now, to volunteer.

Step Up With Sponsorship

Over the years, we've painted hundreds of thousands of square feet of service organizations' walls. That wouldn't be possible without the help of our generous sponsors. If your company is interested in sponsoring a fresh coat of paint for the Veterans Center this year, contact Business Development Manager Ty Coleman, 425.278.0222 by October 10.

Photo courtesy Alabastro Photography

Twenty members of the MBAKS Board of Directors and staff leadership team convened late last week for a two-day retreat at the beautiful Salish Lodge & Spa near Snoqualmie Falls.  The proceedings were facilitated by Donna Franza, Senior Consultant (Advisory Services) at NAHB, who is based in Washington, DC and has deep experience with the Association and our work.

The first day of the retreat began with creating a common understanding of the current state of the Association and of what constitutes good governance.  The team then built awareness of their individual leadership styles, and considered how those can be best leveraged to create a highly functioning Board next year.

Meet the 2025 Board!

After enjoying some evening team building and dinner, the group spent the second day discussing the MBAKS Strategic Plan, the status of its implementation and the extent to which the Association's current structure and activities align with that Plan.

All-in-all, the team left the retreat in a much better place to make home happen, carrying forward MBAKS' Belief, Purpose and Values in the coming year and beyond!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Sharon Couts
Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties
425.499.1723

Governor Signs Into Law Buildable Lands Bill

New Law Will Improve the Methodology and Process Used to Assess Buildable Lands

Bellevue, Wash—July 7, 2017—Governor Jay Inslee yesterday signed into law Senate Bill 5254, ensuring adequacy of buildable lands and zoning in urban growth areas. The bill, sponsored by Senator Joe Fain (R-47th District), will improve the methodology and process by which local jurisdictions assess buildable lands.

Nick Harper, senior director of strategy & policy at the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, explained the significance of the bill, which has been a top legislative priority for the association. “The bill’s passage represents a major step forward for the buildable lands process by ensuring greater accuracy of information used to plan for growth,” he said. 

“The new law brings more specificity into what items must be reviewed to determine whether lands are buildable or what density could be achieved,” Harper added. “More accurate buildable lands data should help our region do a better job of utilizing existing land supply and infrastructure to meet current and future housing demand.”

The new law also provides increased certainty and flexibility for local jurisdictions to assist in funding low-income and homelessness programs.

The Growth Management Act requires King, Snohomish, Pierce, Clark, Thurston, and Kitsap counties to establish a buildable lands program to determine whether the counties and cities within them are achieving urban growth within their urban growth areas. Senate Bill 5254 adds Whatcom County to the list of counties participating in the buildable lands program. View the House Bill Report for Senate Bill 5254.

About MBAKS

Founded in 1909, the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties has grown to become the largest residential homebuilders association in the United States. With more than 2,900 member companies, the association is dedicated to membership value, housing advocacy, community service, and financial stewardship throughout the Puget Sound region. mbaks.com

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