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Affordable Housing—Do We Have the Will?
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Saturday, October 8, 2016
 

STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

John Sofro studied the 250 movers and shakers gathered in the Limelight Room of the Sun Valley Inn.

Then he lowered the boom.

“There is a solution to the problems we’re talking about,” he addressed those who had come together to talk about affording housing for low and middle-income wage earners.

“We’ve concluded (affordable housing) is absolutely needed, but there’s no political will to do it. We have the resources and undeveloped land to do it if there’s political will to do it,” he said.

Sofro encouraged listeners to lean on government officials if they truly want to find solutions. “Or, say, ‘Stop wasting time on these issues. We don’t want more people here so let’s move on.’ ”

Sofro, who once championed a town full of affordable homes south of Timmerman Hill and a housing project south of St. Luke’s Hospital, was among several panelists who addressed the 5th Annual Economic Summit organized this week by Sun Valley Economic Development (SVED).

"There have been 12 to 18 projects that might have pumped $325 million into the local economy and provided 150 residential units that failed in the past several years," said Dave Patrie of the Blaine County Housing Authority. "Some failed because they were not supported by the people in community," he added.

Patrie noted that one company has expressed interest in moving 150 workers to Sun Valley but there is no housing for them.

“Our vacancy is probably 2 percent right now,” he said.

The Blaine County School District pays some of the highest starting wages--$41,000--of any school district in Idaho. But many of those teachers can’t afford a single-family home in the Wood River Valley, Assistant Superintendent John Blackman told the audience.

"A $325,000 home in Woodside is out of reach," he said, adding that it’s easier for teachers to own a home in Caldwell or Nampa despite lower wages in those two cities. And Hailey’s Balmoral Apartments, while affordable, are not where teachers want to reside.

Blackman said he usually has to recruit teachers fleeing higher housing costs in cities like Portland and San Francisco as he seeks to replace the 10 percent of his 530 employees that retire each year.

John Curnow, general manager of the “three-plus star” Limelight Hotel due to open in December, said he hired half of the management positions for the 55-employee hotel locally and the other half from Aspen where the hotel’s owner Aspen Skiing Company is based.

The company was able to fill its bartending and concierge positions during a job fair, which attracted 80 people. But Curnow is losing sleep worrying about how he’s going to fill lower-paid positions, such as housekeeping and maintenance.

Steve Mills, CEO of Webb Landscape, said his company may build small $180,000 homes for employees on 10 acres of land near Bellevue where it used to plant aspen trees. His company, founded 44 years ago, has been able to retain 90 percent of its 200 employees—80 percent of them laborers—in part by offering its employees company ownership. More than half have been with the company for 10 years or more.

But the higher wages that Chobani and Clif Bar are paying has made it more difficult to attract workers from Twin Falls, even though Webb pays wages well above the national average. Some of Webb’s employees are camping or staying in trailers while they wait for rentals to open up.

“I can’t find 10 houses or rentals today,” he added.

Mills added that there are alfalfa fields in the South Valley that could be built on without blocking anyone’s views.

“We have met the enemy and he is us,” he quoted Pogo, as he related how building policies have driven up the cost of housing to the detriment of workers who can’t afford to live where they work.

General Contractor Paul Conrad touted his latest project proposal—a new 160,000-square-foot  commercial, office and residential space on a 2.5-acre site in Ketchum’s light industrial area. The project—1000 Warm Springs—would offer affordable housing by providing at least fifty 500-to 1,400-square foot residential units.

Scott Robinson, co-president of the First Lite premium hunting apparel company, said he is concerned by the lack of affordable commercial real estate.

“What happens when a company has 15 employees? Where do they go?” he said, noting that he doesn’t need to be in the downtown core. “We’re looking for a place with bathrooms, Internet—we’re not asking for a lot.”

The state legislature could assist the cause by approving such mechanisms as real estate transfer taxes, several people suggested. Other communities are providing housing by building residential units on top of fire stations, schools, and other public buildings. Private sectors are buying hotels and converting them to housing.

"Sun Valley has five acres in the Elkhorn Springs are and 120 undeveloped residential parcels where housing could be built," said Jae Hill, the city’s community development director. Bellevue has 50 residential-zoned acres on its east side that could be platted.

"Mountain Rides could include housing when it builds a new transportation center," said Jason Miller. And Ketchum City Council Member Jim Slanetz said he’d like to explore the possibility of building up to 25 tiny homes on Second Street.

Harry Griffith said his Sun Valley Economic Development will analyze the suggestions made at the workshop and present them sometime in the next six months as a way to further the discussion.

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