Ali Rabe

There’s a debate playing out in Idaho right now, and we hear it in nearly every community we visit. On one side are people who believe supply-side solutions don’t work. In their view, the only way to lower housing costs is to create official, capital-A Affordable housing: projects that leverage federal tax credits, subsidies, and deed restrictions to hold prices below market. Just building more homes, they argue, won’t bring prices down, because developers will simply charge whatever the...

When a housing project comes before a city council or planning and zoning commission, the room often fills with neighbors who oppose it. They passionately testify about how a housing development will worsen traffic or disrupt their neighborhood character. We can all empathize with their concerns. Change is hard, especially when it's happening in the place you call home. But we know that the voices that oppose housing do sometimes cause housing developments to get shut down, and not always...

Notes from the Second Annual Welcoming Neighbors Network Mountain West Regional Gathering Earlier this month, Gem State Housing Alliance had the honor of hosting 60 housing advocates and practitioners from seven states — Utah, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Colorado — in Idaho for the Welcoming Neighbors Network Mountain West regional gathering. I’ve spent most of my career working on the back end of the housing shortage, sitting across from families who were one car...