UI, nonprofit unveil new affordable home
Moscow house intended for low-income buyers was designed and built by students
Affordable housing just became a little more attainable in Moscow thanks to a partnership between the University of Idaho and a local nonprofit.
The Moscow Affordable Housing Trust and UI partnered to build a home on the south end of the city for low-income buyers. The public can tour the home during an open house event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at 442 E. Palouse River Drive.
“When the university approached me, it was like, ‘yes, that’s the right thing to do, let’s figure out how to do this,’ ” said Nils Peterson, executive director of the Moscow Affordable Housing Trust.
The 550-square-foot home sits on a small hill and contains one bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen and a loft.
It is located on 1.2 acres of land owned by the Moscow Affordable Housing Trust. The nonprofit and the UI are already planning to build a second home on the same land next year. The overall goal is to build six affordable homes.
It was designed by grad students in the UI College of Art and Architecture, and the students also helped build the home.
Peterson said the cost of the home can stay low because the trust owns the land and receives contributions from donors. The home’s price is $127,000 and comes with a 99-year ground lease at a rate of $75 a month.
It can only be sold to income-qualified buyers, meaning those with a gross income 80% or lower than the area median income.
“We want to keep this perpetually affordable, perpetually occupied by somebody who’s in our target income,” he said.
The buyer has to live in the house, Peterson said. They cannot move away and rent it out.
As a self-described architect by training, Peterson saw the value in giving the UI students hands-on experience in developing a home. He also sees the house as a potential model to create more affordable homes on the Palouse.
Donated land and small homes can be a recipe for affordability, he said.
“Can we — by making it smaller, by simplifying it — can we get it down to the point where the buyer pays for the building literally, not partially?” he said. “Because then the amount of subsidy that’s required is only the land.”
Randall Teal, head of the UI architecture program, said his students had the chance to see their designs become a reality in this project.
He also said the larger purpose of making housing more affordable on the Palouse resonated with them as well.
“The students kind of really connected with the idea that it wasn’t just, ‘oh, we’re going to make a cool design,’ but it actually had some sort of implications for the community and implications on obviously a major issue nationally in terms of housing shortages and affordability.”
Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.
