While the effort to increase the number of affordable housing units in Blaine County is certainly laudable, some aspects of the regional approach to the issue may be in need of reworking, various governmental and business leaders declared Monday during a community housing summit.
The workshop at the Old Blaine County Courthouse in Hailey was attended by representatives from Blaine County and most cities in the county. Between 20 and 30 people attended the meeting.
Permeating the workshop was a sense that while the regional policy to the community housing issue may be imperfect, a number of solutions to those shortfalls do exist.
During a post-lunch conversation, the topic of differences between the affordable housing needs in different locations of the Wood River Valley was discussed. In general, most agreed that a one-size-fits-all approach to the issue is not in the best interests of Sun Valley, Ketchum, Hailey and Bellevue, all of which have different housing needs.
Several speakers pointed out that, in general, potential homebuyers who have signed on to the Blaine County Housing Authority's affordable housing waiting list and name Ketchum as their preferred city indicate condominiums or townhouses as the type of housing unit they'd like to purchase. Potential homebuyers—many of whom have families— who list the cities of Hailey or Bellevue as their preferred location, generally indicate a preference for single-family homes.
Another issue that arose during the meeting was the existing criteria establishing who gets preference on the community housing waiting list and how that eligibility criteria is established. Related to that, the issue of whether homebuyers should be required to have a prequalification letter from a lending institution prior to being placed on the waiting list was raised.
Blaine County administrator Mike McNees was among those who said such a change should be made. The downside to not requiring a prequalification letter is having a potential homebuyer go to a developer and then not being in a position to actually finance the purchase, McNees said.
He said that such a scenario is a needless hassle for all involved, the housing authority, developers and homebuyers alike.
"Why would we send George a buyer who is not prequalified?" McNees said as he glanced towards local developer George Kirk. "Maybe I don't understand our process, but it seems like that part is broken."
Asked if contracts are falling through because homebuyers aren't prequalified, Cygnia Rapp, program director for the Blaine County Housing Authority, said yes.
"That's happening with units that are on the higher end (of the housing authority's established income categories)," Rapp said.
Applicants are slotted into a category by annual income, which range from 50 percent of the average median income for Blaine County, income category 2, to over 120 percent of the median income, category 6. These categories are calculated annually for Blaine County by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
When a unit becomes available, the housing authority matches the price with a certain income category and offers it to the applicant with the most points on their affordable housing list.
Other issues discussed during the workshop included ways of improving the county's community housing planned unit development ordinance and the local approach to deed restrictions.
