MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho — There's no denying affordable housing is an issue across most of the Gem State. Now, more people can relate to renting or owning a home in Mountain Home, thanks to a new affordable housing complex which opened Thursday.
As the population of Mountain Home continues to increase, so does the city's housing needs. An influx of residents combined with limited housing supply has put pressure on the housing market. But a new development named Falcons Landing aims to bring new affordable housing options to the city.
Falcons Landing is being developed by LEAP Housing, an Idaho-based affordable housing nonprofit.
"It's really anchored by 60 units of what would be considered affordable housing," LEAP Housing CEO Bart Cochran said. "This is all funded under low income housing tax credits, so it's income-restricted. These rents would be considered below-market rents, and they're for folks that are earning local wages."
The project's first phase includes 60 affordable multifamily apartments that can be rented, and eight affordable homes up for sale. Units are offered to a range of income levels, starting with residents making 50% of the area's median income.
"What we want to do is really inspire folks to to be able to be a part of this rental community, to have stable housing, affordable housing - but also to say, 'I could be a homeowner, I could work towards that,'" Cochran said. "We think it's a really neat way help give people this sort of launch pad to be able to move up that spectrum towards homeownership."
LEAP Housing found that since 2014 in Elmore County, the increase of the cost of housing has outpaced the increase of wages by 11 times - the highest number they've seen across any state in Idaho.
"The way we kind of build our way out of that is by creating more inventory," Cochran said. "So this is a good example of the kind of housing project that needs to be needs to be completed, but also repeated in order to really catch up with the supply of housing that's needed for this community."
Residents have started moving into the complex, but applications are still open for both rental units and homeownership opportunities. More information about income requirements and the application can be found here. LEAP Housing expects inventory to be gone by the end of November.