Coeur d'Alene, Partners Outline Next Steps in Regional Housing Push

Kootenai County needs nearly 27,500 additional housing units by 2030, and local leaders say the coalition working to deliver them is picking up speed.

At a recent housing and growth workshop, Housing Solutions Partnership founding member and Coeur d'Alene City Councilor Kiki Miller put the county's affordability crisis in stark numerical terms: a $182,000 gap separates what a household earning the area's median income can afford from the region's median single-family home price of $552,500, according to Coeur d'Alene Regional Realtors. "Attainable means it's both affordable and available to the local worker," Miller said.

The Housing Solutions Partnership, a regional collaboration focused on developing data-driven solutions that involve cities, counties, and other stakeholders, has been working alongside partners to address the shortage for five years. More than 80 people attended the recent workshop, including building industry representatives, economic development organizations, and major employers from across Kootenai County. Of the 51 completed exit surveys returned at the end of the session, every single respondent answered yes to the question of whether the HSP should continue its work. "We gave a clear answer as to what's being done right here in the community," Miller said.

The pipeline backing up that answer includes over 660 attainable housing units moving through various stages of development, among them Miracle on Britton in Post Falls. Miller characterized the work as exactly what the community has been asking for. "We want the community to know that somebody is paying attention and doing something about it," she said.

The HSP's strategy extends beyond new construction. The partnership is working with Coeur d'Alene Regional Realtors and other regional partners to vet a mortgage assistance funding program that could help Kootenai County homebuyers qualify for financing. The county has also made free accessory dwelling unit plans available to increase local worker housing stock. State legislators have separately explored tax credit legislation intended to incentivize builders to develop properties for middle-income Idahoans, a proposal framed as an effort to "reinvigorate the American dream."

The regional push drew state-level attention last August, when the Idaho Legislature's joint Land Use and Housing Study Committee convened in Sandpoint to hear from local officials, nonprofits, and other organizations working on Panhandle housing. Linda Coppess of the Coeur d'Alene Regional Chamber has described the situation plainly: "The attainable housing crisis continues to be one of the most urgent issues facing Coeur d'Alene and the greater Kootenai County region."

With unanimous workshop support behind it, the Housing Solutions Partnership is now pressing forward on all fronts, trying to close a gap that, at $182,000, leaves most of Kootenai County's workforce priced out of the market where they work.