Why your voice on housing matters more than you think

Idaho added more than 250,000 people in the last decade. Home prices are up 40% since 2020. We're short roughly 55,000 homes statewide. And yet elected officials at every level consistently say the same thing: they don't hear from pro-housing Idahoans. We were at a community meeting just recently and heard it straight from the mouth of a City Councilmember: no one had ever told him that they supported more housing in the community. As a result, he had voted down dozens of housing options for his community.

This is a critical gap we need to close when it comes to our advocacy. As an Idahoan who's likely affected by housing, you're sitting on some of the most powerful advocacy tools available: real numbers, real stories, and real credibility. We all know a nurse, teacher, or bank teller who can't afford to live in the community where she works, or a relative that had to move out of state or way on the outskirts of town because of high housing prices - or maybe you're affected in some way too. It's critical that more of those stories get to people who need to hear them. 

As we said in a recent blog post, the research is clear on how to start the conversation about housing - and our position is that every Idahoan needs a 60 second elevator pitch about housing that they can use with their elected officials. The universal entry point of these conversations is simple: costs are too high. That's obviously true for everyone, whether you're talking to a conservative county commissioner or a progressive city councilmember. Start there, then connect costs to shortage using examples of competition framing: bidding wars, waitlists, and real life examples of nurses and teachers who can't afford to stay in Idaho. When you can name the people affected specifically, tradespeople, small business owners, young families, you make the abstract real and the policy personal to people who are considering it.

Finally, the policies we need involve approving and enabling more sizes and shapes of housing, especially smaller housing types like duplexes and townhomes on existing infrastructure, so that Idahoans can live near amenities and jobs. And ultimately, we just need more housing that doesn't look like the primarily urban fringe development we see in Idaho's towns today. The most productive conversations with elected officials right now center on a few concrete things: zoning rules that prevent small home types from being built, permitting processes that add cost and time without adding value, and the shortage of infill development of all kinds. Regulation accounts for roughly 25% of the overall cost to develop - that's a number worth sharing. So is this: there are an estimated 12,000 more starter homes that could be built in Idaho each year if we removed these policy barriers.

One more thing on language: the words you choose matter. Say "housing shortage," not "housing crisis." Talk about "more home choices" rather than "housing supply." Reference duplexes, townhomes, backyard cottages, and starter homes by name instead of reaching for more jargony terms like "missing middle" or "ADU." And frame zoning reform as removing restrictions on building, a pro-market, pro-property-rights position, rather than anything that sounds like a government mandate. Especially in Idaho, that type of framing works best. For conservative audiences especially, lean into property rights framing: zoning restrictions prevent homeowners from using their own land. Frame housing supply as a pro-market solution, less government regulation and more homes. And make the workforce connection explicit: we can't recruit workers if they can't find a place to live.

To get more involved in advocating for more housing, you don't have to become a full-time advocate. Show up to a Planning and Zoning Commission hearing when a housing development or code change is on the agenda and say something for two minutes. Your presence signals that professionals are paying attention. Submit a short written comment to your Commission on a project you support. Two paragraphs from a credible voice can shift a vote. Request a meeting with your councilmember or legislator outside of session, when they have space to actually listen. Build that relationship before the contentious 9pm hearing, not during it - and when you later show up to a hearing, they will listen.

When objections come up, and they will, stay calm and concrete. "More homes will change the neighborhood character" gets answered with: the starter homes built in the 1950s are the character people want to protect now. "We need affordable housing, not luxury apartments" gets answered with: more supply across the board reduces competition and price pressure, and every home type matters.

The housing shortage is the product of policy choices, and fixing it will require new ones. Elected officials respond to what they hear, and right now they're mostly hearing from people who oppose new housing. All of us are the counterweight and we don't need a policy degree - we just need two minutes, a real story, and the willingness to show up.