Second UI-built affordable house in the works

When Moscow Housing Trust director Nils Peterson looked at the data, he saw a gap between what type of homes lower-income residents need and what’s available.

According to data from Latah County, he found three-quarters of available homes are three- and four-bedroom houses.

According to a 2018 Moscow citizen survey, the vast majority of local households with an income of $35,000 to $50,000 have only one or two people living in them.

Moscow Housing Trust, a nonprofit, is working with University of Idaho students to design and build six small, affordable homes to help close this gap in housing needs.

Peterson said people who make under $50,000 are a valuable part of the local workforce. They work at places like UI, Gritman Medical Center and downtown businesses. Yet, the housing options they can afford are scarce.

“If we as a community, if we as employers want to attract and retain those folks, we’re going to have to find some way that they can afford housing,” he said.

The team of UI College of Art and Architecture students, with the help of local contractors, completed the first of the six homes last year on East Palouse River Drive. Peterson said it sold in January and is already occupied.

These homes are intended for owners who earn 80% or less of the area median income. The first home’s price was $127,000 and came with a 99-year ground lease at a rate of $75 a month.

The concrete for the second home, directly adjacent to the first, has been poured. Peterson said UI College of Art and Architecture students have submitted their design for the second home to Moscow to get a building permit. He anticipates the second home will be finished this summer.

Peterson said he sees this project as a valuable hands-on educational experience for UI students.

“I view this as a wonderful part of the learning cycle that they’re working with professionals at the city who are giving them feedback in the way that they would get feedback as a practicing architect,” he said.

The second house is approximately 675 square feet and will include two bedrooms and a roof garden.

Peterson said the other four homes will eventually be built in the same area as the first two. The Moscow Housing Trust is also working to break ground on another 11-home affordable housing project nearby as well, he said.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.