MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho — There has been an urgent need for affordable housing across Idaho, and a new project in Mountain Home aims to solve that issue for many.
On Tuesday, LEAP Housing broke ground on a new 136 unit affordable housing complex called Falcons Landing - meant to address a growing need for affordable housing in Mountain Home.
"Workforce housing is definitely a huge need," Mountain Home Mayor Rich Sykes said. "We, at one time, only had one house available for rent. This will definitely alleviate a lot of concerns."
Falcons Landing is the largest project to-date for LEAP Housing, an Idaho-based affordable housing nonprofit.
"Statewide, we see no community that doesn't have a housing challenge," LEAP Housing CEO Bart Cochran said. "It's mostly that the dynamics that are creating the housing challenge are just different - like the recipe so to speak."
A unique recipe in Mountain Home, a community facing incredible demand because of rapid growth and a limited supply of housing.
"Just the cost of housing was really becoming out of reach for people who are already living and working in this community," Cochran said. "So we thought this will be a really, really great place to start, because we can see the pressures is so intense."
LEAP Housing found that since 2014 in Elmore County, the increase of the cost of housing has outpaced the increase of wages by 11 times - the highest number they've seen across any state in Idaho.
The new complex, located on S Fifth West St., will offer mixed-use and mixed-income options to households that are classified as "very" and "extremely" low income.
"There'll be units that are delivered affordably to households between 30% and 60% of the area median income," Cochran said. "And then also, we'll be providing a homeownership product - so we'll have rental and homeownership. That homeownership unit will be focused on households under 80% of area median income. Un addition to that, they'll also be some market rate units. So it's truly mixed-income and mixed-use."
The largest source of funding for the project is coming from low income housing tax credits, which are administered through the Idaho Housing and Finance Association.
Construction at Falcons Landing will take place in four stages. The first phase, which will include 60 multifamily units, is expected to be completed in July 2024.
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