Seminars focus on affordable housing

A group of local lawmakers, public officials and business leaders are having a series of seminars starting Monday about how to provide affordable homes for area workers.

The plight of how to create affordable housing is a hot topic in North Idaho and has been the focus of numerous workshops, conferences and seminars during the last several months.

Yet Coeur d’Alene City Councilman Mike Kennedy, who is the housing task force chairman of the Kootenai Perspectives group holding the workshops, said the meetings aren’t redundant.

Instead, he said, it’s a chance to have a regional conversation about how to solve one of the area’s most pressing problems: ensuring people who work in schools, hospitals, the cities and Kootenai County can buy a home.

“I don’t feel like everyone is on the same page about the definitions of what (affordable housing) is,” Kennedy said. “I don’t think people are aware of the many tools available. I view this more as collaboration and education.”

Kootenai Perspectives is a committee of Jobs Plus, the local job recruiter. Its members include city councilmen, health officials, school district representatives and a county commissioner. There are also members from the private sector, including bankers, architects and insurers.

Coeur d’Alene hired consultants to do a housing study that, when released in December, confirmed there are not enough homes on the market for people earning less than $50,000 a year.

The study showed about half the city’s population has difficulty finding a home they can afford, meaning houses with a median value of about $130,000. It also spelled out ways to execute many of the recommendations it contained.

Kennedy said Coeur d’Alene is already taking steps toward tackling the problem, most notably applying to get a steady flow of federal money for housing needs by becoming a designated federal Housing and Urban Development entitlement city. But he said the problem isn’t isolated and Coeur d’Alene needs help from the other cities, the county and business people – especially developers and builders.

Kootenai County Commissioner Todd Tondee wasn’t available for comment Friday but has said in previous interviews the Kootenai Perspectives forums are a good place for the county to start learning about its role.

In March, the county commission rejected its first proposal for affordable homes, saying the large development could harm the aquifer. Copper Basin Construction wanted to change the zoning on 290 acres of farmland to allow for 700 homes priced from $135,000 to $200,000.

The project also raised questions because there is no county definition of affordable housing and there was no mechanism to keep the houses affordable when the initial owners decided to resell the homes.

Kennedy hopes the workshops that start Monday will help provide answers to these questions.

In June, during the Association of Idaho Cities Conference in Coeur d’Alene, the Idaho Housing and Finance Association unveiled a work force housing “tool kit” that’s aimed at helping counties and cities address work force housing needs.

Kennedy said the workshops also will highlight the importance of these tools that IHFA President Gerald Hunter characterized as a menu where governments can pick what would work best in their communities, such as allowing developers to build more homes per acre in exchange for including affordable homes in their projects, or establishing land trusts and home-buyer assistance funds.

Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem said it’s important for the community to take its time on figuring out a housing solution. She said it’s wise to understand what works. Cities and counties that have rushed into building affordable housing often end up in court or have houses that don’t stay affordable.

“If you aren’t all playing the same game, there’s many wasted dollars and a lot of mistakes,” Bloem said.