The Idaho Legislature has an opportunity to investigate the factors contributing to rising housing costs and limited supply. The Senate recently adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 103 sponsored by Senator Alison Rabe, which would form a legislative interim committee on housing. The committee is tasked with examining the impact of local land use regulations, evaluating city comprehensive plans and zoning, and finally identifying opportunities to reduce building regulatory costs and wait times, to meet Idaho’s growing development needs.
The resolution reads:
“WHEREAS, Idaho has a unique opportunity to proactively address housing challenges by studying regulatory impacts and developing actionable, locally appropriate solutions. This approach will position the State as a leader in addressing housing affordability while respecting Idaho’s values of fiscal responsibility, local control, and reduced red tape.”
Idaho’s rising housing costs and affordability crisis are of growing concern. All of the western states are struggling to address affordability, and Idaho has placed within the top 5 of least affordable states since February 2020, recently placing second behind Montana in 2024. The housing crisis is real, but there are many different factors depending on the type of housing needed.
The recent 2025 Idaho Public Policy Survey by Boise State University found that housing is the 4th most concerning issue among Idaho respondents. Housing ranks behind education, jobs and the economy, and healthcare, with 64.1% saying housing was important for the legislature to address. Almost half of Idahoans answered affirmatively to the question, “Does the cost of your housing place a financial strain on you and your family today?” With renters, non-white respondents, Canyon County residents, and those 45 and younger saying the strain was more apparent.
With all of this background in mind, the effort of Senator Rabe to form a legislative interim committee on housing is a worthwhile step in addressing Idaho’s housing attainability crisis. Mountain States Policy Center met with Senator Rabe earlier this year to discuss the benefits of forming a workgroup to address housing concerns and the need to sunset any new provisions.
The committee is modeled after Montana Governor Gianforte’s Housing Task Force. Created by executive order in 2022, the workgroup met for two years to discuss the housing issues that constrained supply and hurt affordability. The task force provided a roadmap for lawmakers to follow to have a robust discussion of housing needs and develop policy solutions that actually worked to address the crisis.
The bipartisan work generated by the committee was dubbed the Montana Miracle, as both sides of the aisle supported “Yes In My Backyard” (YIMB) legislation. The final report in June 2024, identified 23 recommendations that can serve as a model for future legislation.
Idaho can learn from the Montana model by:
Inviting a broad coalition to participate (the study had over 25 participants from industry, local and state government, finance, and policy and housing non-profits);
Develop recommendations addressing various themes (i.e. regulations, planning, construction, financial);
Discuss every recommendation thoroughly including rationale, barriers, strategies, next steps and legislative changes needed, and dissenting opinions;
Including a sunset clause which only allows the continuation upon another legislative approved renewal.
The current form of Senate Concurrent Resolution 103 already includes many of these guidelines, and the final version if approved should ensure these characteristics are still intact.
We are closely following this resolution. If it passes, the legislature is strongly urged to ensure that the workgroup discussion is robust, bipartisan, and Idaho-specific, concluding with actionable recommendations. Last year we published a study looking at the cost of building homes and the regulatory framework increasing the costs and the potential policies that can help increase supply and make homes more affordable. SCR 103 could help build the blueprint to address these problems.
Idaho desperately needs solutions to the housing attainability crisis, identifying these policy changes is step one and something this workgroup can address. But the next step is even more important. Idaho legislators should work to find and adopt policy solutions that fix, not bandage the housing attainability crisis.