Forum to address affordable housing

The Urban Land Institute will lead a forum in Coeur d’Alene to help find ways to provide housing for local students and workers.

The March 5 event at the Coeur d’Alene Resort will be sponsored by the Lake City Development Corp., which is Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal agency, and local businesses.

Faced with growing populations and rising land prices, cities, counties and the private sector are looking at how to create affordable housing for North Idaho workers.

LCDC Executive Director Tony Berns said he expects people from Spokane and Western Montana to also attend.

Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint officials have said they want to avoid a housing problem like the one in Sun Valley, Idaho, where service workers must commute long distances because they can’t afford to live in the resort town.

Registration for the program costs $25 for the institute’s members and $35 for nonmembers.

For more information or to register, go to www.uli.org/register or call (800) 321-5011. The program number is 8149-0809.