Housing boom forces mayors to grapple with affordability

by Lora Volkert @ Idaho Business Review
10/16/2006

Rising real estate prices and low wage growth have prompted Idaho mayors to look for ways to increase the amount of affordable housing in their cities.
Mayors from three cities shared their methods at this month’s Idaho Conference on Housing.

The city of Boise is considering inclusionary zoning, which would require developers to either dedicate for affordable housing a percentage of the housing units they build or pay into an affordable housing fund, Boise Mayor David Bieter said.

The Building Contractors Association opposes the idea, he said. But Beiter believes the city needs to consider the plan as a way to increase housing opportunities and supplement the city’s other homelessness initiatives, such as rental assistance programs the city is starting with the help of churches and civic organizations.

Inclusionary zoning isn’t the only Boise housing initiative to spark controversy. Neighborhood groups have opposed another of Bieter’s housing priorities, infill development.

Most citizens understand the need to fight urban sprawl, so the battles over infill projects are paradoxical, Bieter said.

“The only thing we dislike worse than sprawl is density,” he said.

The city has tried to promote dense infill by tweaking building codes to make multi-family housing more affordable to build and own, he said.

Boise changed its codes to allow up to five stories of wood-framed construction on top of a concrete and steel building of up to three stories. Downtown residential projects have boomed as a result, he said.

Likewise, the city doesn’t require fire sprinkler systems in four-plexes because such systems would significantly increase construction costs without appreciably increasing safety, he said.

“The future of Boise is to bring infill projects to the city,” Bieter said.

He believes infill can help the city sustain its growth because it uses existing infrastructure, unlike the many planned communities proposed outside town.

Other mayors have been encouraging infill in their own ways. Caldwell Mayor Garret Nancolas spoke at the conference about his efforts to encourage private industry to redevelop downtown with mixed-use development around Indian Creek. Within 10 years the city expects 300 to 400 units of urban housing in downtown, he said. The city broke ground on the Indian Creek project last month.

Pocatello Mayor Roger Chase said his city had the dubious distinction of having the oldest housing stock in the state. A quarter of the city’s housing was built before 1940.

The city acquired a community development block grant to rehabilitate 232 houses and build new second-story housing in old commercial developments in the center of town.


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