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Group goal: Roofs over workers' heads

by MADISON HARDY
Staff Writer | August 25, 2021 1:00 AM

Members of the Regional Housing & Growth Issues Partnership have identified a new target: Ways to boost available housing for the working class. 

In the H & G Partnership meeting Monday, group leader Kiki Miller presented a draft version of a "local worker housing toolkit" for North Idaho. 

"What we are recognizing is that there needs to be some balance in the county that provides inventory and homes for people who need to live in the county," Miller said. 

The definition of a "local worker" who would qualify for the housing is still loose. But Miller said the term refers to medium-to-low income careers in health care, grocery, restaurant and other commercial industries. 

Within the toolkit are housing strategies already in use throughout the United States. While the document is still in early stages, Miller hopes the partnership can use it to develop answers for the North Idaho housing crisis. 

"It is intended and designed to be a living document," Miller said, "in that as the markets change, as obstacles and legalities change throughout the county and state, we can modify it."

The toolkit is divided into four chapters:

• Existing inventory protections

• Incentives for qualifying projects

• Types of housing programs

• New ideas 

Some options listed:

• Short-term rental ordinances and modifications

• First Right of Refusals

• Zoning reviews

• Limited equity co-ops

• Employer-assisted housing programs

• Nonprofit funding for startup programs

• Voluntary land development restrictions 

• Community land trusts

• Generational housing codes

• Rent-to-own programs

• Real estate transaction surcharge 

Miller said the strategies aren't quick fixes, but concepts the group will dig into for months, if not years. She believes it's a start to developing a "long-term guide to see what and where we can go with some of these options." 

"Elected officials and the public need to know what can be done," Miller said.

The partnership's schools subcommittee is also looking at employee housing, Coeur d'Alene School District Director of Operations Jeff Voeller said. 

"Teacher salaries average about $40,000 to $45,000 a year. We know that's hard enough to be able to afford a house, and then some of our support staff make even less," Voeller said. "So the idea of how we find housing our staff can live and function in is going to be a critical issue."

The nine-person subcommittee also plans to look into schools' options for funding capital projects. 

An assessment of affordable housing in Kootenai and Shoshone counties is underway. Led by two University of Idaho professors, the study recently distributed surveys to thousands of local employers and employees. 

"We all have heard the anecdotal stories, but we wanted to go directly to people in the community who are living here to hear what they are experiencing," Panhandle Affordable Housing Alliance representative Maggie Lyons said in the Monday meeting. 

Lyons said the survey aims to gather firsthand experiences from renters and homeowners about personal hardships caused by the housing market. 

The study had collected over 1,800 employee surveys as of Monday, Lyons said. The UI study plans to send a third survey to 1,700 local real estate agents to gather sales trends and market data.

The study has a goal completion date of Oct. 31. Once published, the document will be available for public viewing. 

"We hope that everyone will read it because we think it will provide a good rudder for this ship of ours here in Kootenai County to understand the issues and challenges in real-time data," Lyons said. "I think it is a perfectly timed effort with this group." 

The next meeting is Sept. 27.