Regional housing report shows need for affordability

Jana Mathia, Gazette Reporter | Apr 11, 20190

count

A slide from the Housing Affordability/Availablilty presentation given at the Inland Northwest Partners spring meeting March 27 shows how much of a family's income goes toward housing, whether mortgage or rent, broken down by annual income. Courtesy of Thomas P. Miller and Associates.

Some of the first information from the Palouse Regional Housing Needs Assessment was presented at the Inland Northwest Partners meeting March 27, covering housing availability and affordability in Whitman and Latah counties.

"It was interesting," said Port of Whitman County Commissioner Tom Kammerzell, who reported on the INP meeting at the port's April 4 meeting.

The Palouse Regional Housing Needs Assessment is a regional look at housing needs and is supported by multiple entities including City of Pullman, City of Moscow, Avista Corporation, WSU, University of Idaho and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. It is being conducted by Thomas P. Miller and Associates of Indianapolis and Moscow-based Partnership for Economic Prosperity (PEP).

According to Brian Points, project manager for the Palouse Housing Assessment, what was presented was a small part―maybe five percent―of the full assessment, which is not even complete.

The INP presentation was given by Mike Higbee, Thomas P. Miller and Associates vice president. It looked at Palouse area housing challenges, trends, affordability and best practices for addressing the challenges. The presentation also discussed opportunity zones, but Whitman County does not have any areas in an opportunity zone.

"We looked at all the cities and rural areas in that region," Points told the Gazette in an interview. He noted that with low population towns there is not the information available on a per-town basis as there is with cities, so Whitman and Latah counties were broken out into Pullman and Moscow, respectively, and the remainder of each counties.

The challenges of housing on the Palouse were listed as difficult topography and soil, limited zoning codes, communication gap between builders and government officials, limited existing housing stock to renovate, not 'on the radar' for major development companies and cities in an island of farming land.

The last relates to infrastructure and development as cities bump into the surrounding farmland.

"This isn't a contest," Points said of the city/farm land use. He said there is not a conflict between the two and no one wants to see farm land paved over. The challenge can be cities not knowing which way they will expand in the future, not knowing which landowners may choose to sell.

Most of the presentation was showing data that has been collected to this point. The data showed the region does a pretty good job of taking care of the multi-family housing, like apartments, and the university student populations. Multi-family development in the region has outpaced the national trend, in part due to millennials choosing to rent longer and a lack of affordable housing for first time home buyers.

For Whitman County, this seemed to be the main crux of the matter. There is housing available, but not necessarily affordable, especially for lower income families.

Kammerzell noted that none of this is news. The information presented is consistent with what has been said in other reports for at least the past three years: There is a need for more affordable housing. He referenced a new construction in Pullman that is charging monthly rent of $750 per bed while in the rural towns, entire houses can be rented for the same or lower cost.

There is a bigger demand for entry-level homes to purchase, Points said, adding that many wanna-be first-time homebuyers just can't afford to do so. People doing the "right" things, like having a steady job, still cannot afford homes.

The presentation also listed "best practices" for regional leaders to address the issues. One of those is building with the momentum of the community―embrace what the community will get behind and go with it. Then, those leaders can reach out to developers who build in that way.

"They may all say no, but at least you're being proactive," Points said.

One example shown was an "agritopia," where suburban housing and farm eland abut in harmony. Another was condensed, higher-density housing areas with a strong communal feel.

The full Palouse Regional Housing Needs Assessment still has more work before it is complete. Once it is, according to Points, it will not only identify needs and desires of all aspects of housing, but also potential fixes and examples of other places that have overcome those challenges and how.