Boise at a Crossroads: Planning for Unprecedented Population Growth in a Formerly Affordable City

Report Summary: The City of Boise is booming, and growth is happening. From 2020 to 2021, Idaho’s population grew by 2.9 percent, leading the country in population growth for the fifth year in a row. (U.S. Census Bureau). To help advance its work on housing attainability in an era of unprecedented growth, the city of Boise engaged ULI Idaho and the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing to organize a technical assistance panel. This report is the findings and recommendations of the technical assistance panel (TAP).

The ULI panel recommends that the City of Boise consider the following recommendations:

Adopt and Implement a Five-Year Housing Plan

• Provide the resources, partnerships, and education necessary for implementation.
• Create a cabinet of key stakeholders to monitor progress.
• Adopt ambitious goals.

Permanent Supportive Housing

• Formalize relationships and coordination between the partners supporting this effort.
• Build capacity within the nonprofit and philanthropy organizations to support.
• Commit rental assistance to the production of PSH.
• Advocate for a Medicaid policy change in the form of a waiver of state plan amendment.
• Ensure BCACHA continues to aggressively seek to expand its supply of federally funded housing vouchers.

Housing Preservation

• Prioritize resources for preservation of the inventoried at-risk market-rate conversions and subsidized affordable housing and work with partners for purchase as permanent affordable housing.
• Extend affordability periods.

Coordination of Land Use and Housing

• Allow zoning for increased density in an expanded city core, in commercial and transportation corridors, and in the activity centers.
• Accommodate new housing typologies known as the “missing middle” and provide more flexibility in regulating ADUs for infill development in the zoning code.
• Direct incentive zoning toward achieving what is most critically needed: long-term committed affordable housing.

Sharpen and Add More Tools

• Significantly incentivize affordability and sustain affordability for the long-term.
• Create a city liaison, or ombudsman, for affordable housing.
• Allow fee and permit waivers and fast-track permitting for affordable housing projects.

Expand the Housing Toolbox for Financing

• Establish a local gap financing leverage fund for applications under the LIHTC program.
• Create a Boise-specific community development entity under the new markets tax credit program.
• Use the CDBG 108 Loan Guarantee Program to access low-cost financing.
• Work with local banks to encourage the use of the Affordable Housing Program, through a Federal Home Loan Bank.
• Establish a Housing Investment Program. • Modify the current land trust model to ensure long-term financial viability for the city.
• Establish an employer-led Social Impact Fund to incentivize the private market to incorporate middle income (60 to 120 percent AMI) within both preservation and new construction projects.

Community Engagement and Education

• Simplify the messaging on the housing crisis and in a way that that align with Idaho values.
• Externalize the Housing Dashboard with goals and metrics, and regular updates.
• Increased engagement with major employers, better understanding of their needs and partnering with them to find solutions.
• Educate and incentivize the development community to become an even more active partner in solving the housing issue long term.
• Continue to partner with the governor, legislators, AIC, and other municipal leaders to show success and expand the coalition around housing beyond just Boise.