Workforce housing was given a boost Tuesday when the Blaine County Commission voted to survey county lands within and around Hailey and Bellevue with an eye toward selling them to raise money to fund housing. The commission also decided to explore partnerships with various organizations.
An 11,000-square-foot lot on the corner of Walnut Street and Fifth Avenue in Hailey provided a focal point for discussion. The lot had been under consideration by the Blaine County Sheriff's Office since 2003 as a possible location to build four housing units for its employees, some of whom commute from Carey.
"I'm losing three more deputies right now to the Treasure Valley," said Sheriff Walt Femling, who has been trying to acquire workforce housing since 1989. "I am very much in favor of getting community workforce housing here as part of a recruitment package for new employees. It is required that sheriff's office employees live in the county where they work."
Lesley Andrus, secretary of Ketchum-based Advocates for Real Community Housing (ARCH), expressed interest in the Walnut Street parcel. She said ARCH was in a better position than the Blaine County Housing Authority to move forward with construction of two 1,250-square-foot, three-bedroom homes on the property due to the non-profit status of the organization and its ability to subsidize the purchase price for qualified buyers.
"We can build these houses in a year and have them for sale at $149,000 each," Andrus said.
Commissioner Larry Schoen expressed gratitude for the eagerness and determination of the ARCH director while advising the commission to take time to review the request to lease or manage county lands as a policy issue--one which might have broad implications for the disposition of county lands in the future.
"Blaine County has 140 employees of its own and we are initiating our own employee housing program," he said. "We already have the Blaine County Housing Authority."
Andrus said the recent downturn in the real estate market has created a window of opportunity to purchase property for community housing projects.
"Feasibility studies are good but everyone around here wants to do more and more studies," she said. "There is also the matter of time in this. ARCH may not be here for this project in a year because we are getting involved in other things in the valley. This may look like a small project, but it will add two more homes to the inventory of affordable houses in the area, an inventory which is almost non-existent."
Rebekah Helzel, president of ARCH, said the organization is in a position to build the houses right away even if they are then deeded over to the Blaine County Housing Authority.
"We just want to get these houses built if there is some way we can remove the obstacles to this," she said.
The commission voted to allow ARCH to further explore a path toward construction on the Walnut Street site, including the use of partnerships with the county housing authority and any other entities willing to participate.
Schoen agreed to meanwhile take up the task of surveying several other parcels of county land adjacent to Hailey and Bellevue that could be sold to supply a revolving loan fund for downpayment assistance and other financial support for county employees.
County planner Jeff Adams called for a summit meeting of BCHA, ARCH, the Blaine County School District, Habitat for Humanity, the Wood River High School Building Academy and any other entities eager to see workforce housing become a reality.
"It's time we all sat down together and start targeting what we want to do with this, including the possibility of changing ordinances and making mapping analyses," he said. "This is a perfect topic for the Blaine Leadership Council."
Commissioner Sarah Michael expressed support, saying, "I am tired of waiting while we have workforce continuing to live outside of the county."
