From Idaho pockets to progress: Introducing Gem State’s Housing Network Call

Ask anyone in Idaho about the housing shortage and you’ll hear the same thing: We know the problem. We’re stuck on what to do about it. 

Idaho’s housing shortage isn’t new anymore. Nonprofits, quasi-governmental groups, city partners, and grassroots coalitions are already working on the issue from their respective corner of the state. Boise has its organizers. Coeur d’Alene has its advocates. Twin Falls, Driggs, Pocatello … the work is happening everywhere, often led by people who’ve been at it for years.

Idaho leads the nation in housing growth. The data shows it’s still not enough.

As the advocacy director for Gem State Housing Alliance, Idaho’s first statewide pro-housing coalition, I hear about Idaho’s housing shortage from just about every person I talk to. 

The population boom has increased competition for Idaho’s available homes, and that competition — coupled with rising costs — has made Idaho the second least affordable housing market in the country, according to the National Association of REALTORS.

It reminds me of a lesson from my high school math teacher: When there isn’t enough on the market, prices rise. I now see this playing all across the state out in real time in the competition for a starter home and the waitlists for rentals.

Here’s what’s easy to miss in that math: pro-housing solutions already exist in Idaho. What’s missing is a way to connect them so they add up to something bigger than one city’s win.

Prior to my work with Gem State, I spent years working to preserve Idaho’s agricultural land; sprawl is part of why we’re losing it. Across the state, farmland is being eaten up by subdivisions and apartment buildings, largely because zoning codes limit builders to predominately large-lot detached homes (the most land-intensive, expensive option). Homes like duplexes, townhomes, and starter homes on smaller lots use less land per household, meaning more homes for Idahoans without paving over the farmland we’re trying to protect. 

That’s just one example, and it points to a pattern we see again and again: We’re organized in pockets, but not together. A win in one city rarely reaches a pro-housing group tackling the same issue two counties over. Lessons learned the hard way in one community must be relearned the hard way in another.

That’s the gap Gem State’s Housing Network Call was built to fill. If you’re already one of the people doing the work, or ready to start, this is where you can join in. 

Pro-housing organizing calls are already happening statewide, but many admire the problem without moving into action. So Gem State asked these community leaders directly: What would actually help you make progress?

Their answer wasn’t more meetings. It wasn’t another organization to report to. It was one thing: a way to connect the conversations already happening, so the people doing this work don’t have to keep discovering the same solutions independently, city by city.

That’s why we’re launching the “Housing Network Call,” a 50-minute, action-driven call bringing pro-housing Idahoans from every corner of the state together. These calls will keep groups working on housing solutions aligned, address policy gaps, and most importantly, get everyone in the boat rowing in the same direction. It’s the first effort of its kind in Idaho, designed by the people already on the ground.

Idahoans take care of each other,  in our neighborhoods, in our small towns, in the way we show up when someone needs a hand. It’s time that instinct showed up in how we organize for housing too.

You can be part of our first call oat noon Mountain time or 11 a.m. Pacific on Aug. 20. Learn more and register to join us by visiting Gem State’s website gemstatehousing.org/events/.