Affordable housing project christened

COEUR d’ALENE — One small step for affordable housing, six huge leaps for local families.

The first multi-unit affordable housing complex by Coeur d’Alene-based Habitat for Humanity is almost ready for occupancy after two years of construction. The complex was dedicated Saturday on North Fruitland Lane.

Later this month, new homeowners are expected to move into the six-unit complex. Units range from one to four bedrooms, said Donna Marcus, development and communications coordinator for Habitat.

For Alina Swanson and her 13-year-old son, James, who are moving into one of the units, having affordable housing will mean the difference between barely making it and thriving.

Swanson now pays about $1,400 a month rent for their apartment. As a single mom, she said that’s really a challenge despite having a good job. Swanson is a residential new construction assistant coordinator for Trademark Mechanical.

Receiving the unit through Habitat will cut her housing payment in half, she said.

“This is going to change my and my son’s life. Neither one of us can really get over it,” Swanson told about 50 people who gathered for a dedication ceremony Saturday. “Are there any volunteers that can come help us finish?”

When asked how Swanson learned about the Habitat opportunity, she said it was through her own volunteer work with the organization.

“I like volunteering. I wanted to just volunteer, and they told me, ‘Why don’t you look at the income guidelines, and see if you qualify?’ And I did,” Swanson said. “I’m never going to stop volunteering with Habitat after this.”

Income guidelines, volunteer opportunities and further information are available at northidahohabitat.org.

Habitat depends on volunteers to make the dream of homeownership a possibility.

When clients are approved for a Habitat home, they promise an investment of time and labor, contributing a minimum of 250 hours of "sweat equity," per adult, into the process.

The more hands on deck, the faster construction is completed, making homeownership a reality for someone otherwise unable to afford it.

Affordable, entry-level housing used to be the norm here, but with sky-high rents and sale prices, many wonder if such a thing will exist in the future, Habitat Executive Director James Casper said.

“And it’s not just people who are low income; it’s regular working folk who can’t afford to buy a house,” he said.

Using a land-trust system allows Habitat to have permanent involvement in the project long-term, Casper said. It allows equity to be restricted, so that the affordable housing offered will remain affordable for property owners in the future.

“You want to help people into homeownership, but you want to do it in a way that is a responsible use of the community’s dollars,” Casper said. “It’s not that we don’t want people to gain value over time; that’s the whole point of home-ownership.

“But some of the homeowners we sold to, even 10 years ago, have houses that are worth $400,000 because that’s what the market here says it’s worth. It’s a little bit more of an increase when we sold it to them for about $100,000.”

The issue is that the next person who purchases the property won’t be “the person who needs help getting into an affordable unit,” Casper said.

Habitat for Humanity will focus next on a 21-unit affordable housing complex off Neider Avenue in Coeur d’Alene.