CALDWELL, Idaho — The key to solving the housing crisis may start with having the right conversations. At least, that's what one group in Canyon County hopes.
"It's very frustrating," said Mike Dittenber, the Executive Director at the Caldwell Housing Authority. He's worked for about 25 years trying to expand affordable housing, and he said, the problem is getting much worse. "10 years ago, we had a playbook on how we get people into affordable rentals and affordable housing. Today, there are no pages of that playbook that are applicable in today's housing shortage," he said.
Dittenber said now, it's not about getting people into affordable housing, but just trying to keep people where they are. More than ever, he's seeing the economy hampered by young people being unable to afford housing, which affects everyone. "When you're an employer and you're looking to build a reliable workforce, and they can't live near or in the community in which they work, it provides some challenges."
That's why the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce came to Mike with a question, ‘how do we let everyone know about all the housing challenges out there?' Dittenber said it speaks to the heart of the problem, "I don't think that as a society, we are having the right discussion about housing and housing affordability."
That’s why they’re gathering a bunch of housing authorities, developers, contractors, realtors, bankers, and legislators together to have the “right” conversation about the root cause of the housing crisis. It's called the Summit on Housing and Development. It will cover topics like the balance between maintaining a small town feel while still having enough homes for everyone and having right-sized developments (homes that are big enough but not too big so they're unaffordable).
Regardless of the specific topics, Dittenber says there's one theme. "The biggest thing people need to know is, it's a matter of supply and demand, and we're not just short housing at the apartment level, and we're not just short housing at the executive level. We're short housing at every phase, starter housing, intermediate housing and retirement housing. We're just at a terrible place."
Dittenber added that, if mortgage rates keep falling, there could be as many as 1,500 people wanting to buy in Canyon County, and they won't have homes for them.
If you'd like to attend the Summit, it's coming up Friday, Sept. 20 at the College of Idaho's Langroise Recital Hall. It runs all day. You must register ahead of time. Here’s a link where you can do that.