Joe Jaszewski

By Daniel Malarkey and Joe Jaszewski Sit through enough public hearings on new housing in Idaho and you'll hear the same five objections. Traffic will get worse. Property values will drop. New housing will bring more crime. This isn't what the neighborhood looks like. The infrastructure can't handle it. Each one gets repeated so often it starts to sound like settled fact. Here's what the research actually shows. Myth 1: New housing drops property values. NYU's Furman Center reviewed the full...

If you've tried to buy or rent a home in Idaho recently, you already know: housing costs have become a serious burden for families across the Gem State. Housing is consistently ranked as a top concern in every survey and poll that goes out. But why? The answer involves a collision of surging demand, stubborn opposition to growth, high construction costs, and land-use rules built for a different era. Idaho is one of the fastest-growing states in the nation, and that growth has been a...