Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a sweeping set of housing reforms as lawmakers sought to avoid a piecemeal legislative approach to the state\u2019s housing affordability problem.<\/p>\n
The legislation gave local governments more power to implement plans on missing middle housing, but took control away in some zoning.<\/p>\n
Like Sun Belt states, Mountain West states such as Idaho saw population booms during the COVID-19 pandemic that overwhelmed housing supply. Remote workers left high-cost states such as California and New York for lower-cost areas, pushing prices higher in the places they landed.<\/p>\n
Return\u2011to\u2011office policies have pulled workers back to their previous states, driving housing prices lower in cities where new construction surged. Austin, Texas, once a hotspot for price growth, now leads the nation in rent declines and ranks among the top cities for falling home prices as tech talent returns to the coasts.<\/p>\n
Hollie Conde, a fellow at think tank Sightline Institute<\/strong>, told The Builder\u2019s Daily<\/em> that the scenario hasn\u2019t happened in Idaho.<\/p>\n \u201cSo far, they have kept their jobs,\u201d Conde said. \u201cIt\u2019s come so far that we have people in the legislature that have lived here for five, six years.\u201d<\/p>\n The new population brought big salaries and buying power that drove housing prices beyond what the average Idaho resident could afford.<\/p>\n Mountain West cities led the 2025 Urban Land Institute<\/strong>\u2019s Terwilliger Center Home Attainability Index<\/a> with percentage increases in home prices, citing data from 2019 to 2023. Boise\u2019s metropolitan area topped the list, Coeur d\u2019Alene, Idaho Falls and Twin Falls in the Top 10.<\/p>\n Last year, state lawmakers created a committee to study state and local land-use regulations and their impact on housing supply. The committee returned with recommendations, many of which are now law.<\/p>\nSolving a housing affordability problem<\/h2>\n