For nearly three years elected officials, building and housing professionals and civic organizations have been working together to build a ToolKit of Solutions to address the housing crisis in Kootenai County.
Defining affordability was a key goal. The Housing Studies provided by the University of Idaho ranked local workers by job title and annual median income. According to the chart below, 80% of people working in occupations surveyed could not afford a home here.
The HUD reported Area Median Income (AMI) for 2023 is $93,500. The local worker categories indicated in the study present a substantially lower AMI. An affordable house at that income level is defined using a standard formula of housing costs being 30-35% of monthly expenses. The home price for a person with that income would be $410,000 with a $350,000 mortgage at a 6% rate after a down payment of $60,000.
This month there are about 90 homes listed for sale in the Kootenai County Multiple Listing Service under this price point. Of those, 42 are manufactured homes on rented property. The rest are all other houses, condos and townhomes.
This leaves nearly 24 of the 30 categories of local workers unable to buy a home. The categories are listed in the chart below. These are the job categories that require local workers (as opposed to remote or commuters) to live where they work and are what keep our communities alive. The wage gap to home prices is too wide to be bridged in these industry sectors.
To further shed light on the American Dream home, defined as a three-bedroom, single-family on an under an acre lot, there are about eight listed in the county in all ranges of age and condition, and none of them are new construction.
To complicate the problem further, the two University of Idaho studies show dramatic upticks in rental prices affecting availability. Many who were nearly qualified to purchase have used their saved down payments to satisfy rental increases.
These studies aren’t national trends, but are local conditions and reflect the need that ToolKit solutions already use here and why they are so important. I encourage you to review them at Solutions ToolKit | Housing Solutions Partnership North Idaho (housingni.org). Also, HomeShare Kootenai County (HomeShareKC.org) can match home providers with home seekers at a fraction of the cost of any statewide rental assistance program.
The next column will cover voluntary deed restrictions, developer incentives and how they can be a useful tool and provide recent data illustrating the national and local housing shortage.
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Kiki Miller is a Coeur d’Alene City Council member and founding member of The Housing Solutions Partnership.
2022 median annual income by occupation for Kootenai County
The first three quintiles below cannot afford housing based on their income.
Lowest Quintile: $18,258
1. Tailors, Dressmakers $15,980
2. Manicurists, Pedicurists $18,350
3. Product Promoters $19,598
4. Bartenders $20,809
5. Childcare Workers $21,262
6. Cooks, Fast Food $21,290
Second Quintile: $42,337
1. Sheet Metal Workers $43,321
2. Computer Tool Operators $42,636
3. Machinists $42,758
4. Chefs and Head Cooks $42,762
5. Supervisors of Landscaping $42,772
6. Mental Health Social Workers $43,133
Third Quintile: $65,163
1. Respiratory Therapists $66,318
2. Loan Officers $62,619
3. Real Estate Brokers $62,824
4. Healthcare Social Workers $65,278
5. Operations Managers $65,255
6. Secondary School Teachers $63,467
Fourth Quintile: $97,566
1. Sales Managers $99,840
2. Credit Analysists $93,392
3. Power Plant Operators $95,081
4. Physical Therapists $95,773
5. Chief Executives $96,593
6. Software Developers $96,730
Highest Quintile; $195,117
1. Physician Assistants $128,908
2. Pharmacists $138,727
3. Dentists, General $152,163
4. Financial Specialists $152,408
5. Judges $179,812
6. Airline Pilots $188,992
Source: Lightcast (Next Steps Housing Study)