KLT announces news on the homefront

As a Realtor, Jessica Turco is intimately familiar with property values and housing shortages in Bonner County. 

Like many other parts of the country, the Mountain West, particularly, North Idaho, is facing a housing crisis. Her job has become even more challenging since 2000 with a population surge of more than 50% in the state since then. Her clients and her family have felt the squeeze as the inventory of homes on the market have shrunk and property values have skyrocketed. 

“Being raised in Priest River, our roots run deep within this small community. It's difficult to watch as family and friends, many of whom are my clients, are being priced out of our hometown. Despite earning a decent wage, they still struggle to afford their own homes," Turco laments.

Like Turco, Kaniksu Land Trust (KLT), a conservation organization, saw how the housing crisis was impacting land protection efforts. As more rural lands were sold to developers for housing projects, open space, family farms, and other vital landscapes were disappearing. Concern for the ability to sustain the rural character of the area was growing.

“When we first started talking about this as a Board, we asked, ‘Do we have a role to play?’ and the board tasked me with going out in the community to understand what organizations were playing a part in finding a solution,” explained Katie Cox, KLT Executive Director.

One idea came to the fore. Cox reached out to local and regional organizations to gauge interest and capacity for implementing a proven model for providing affordable homeownership to local, working residents that would allow them to earn equity without contributing to rising real estate costs. 

About 40 years ago, a housing model began to quietly appear in the United States that held promise for reducing the cost of homeownership. The community land trust (CLT), also known as a community housing trust model has been at work in more than 400 communities across the U.S. since then. 

A CLT separates ownership of the land from the home, allowing a homebuyer to purchase a house while holding the lease on the land. By taking the value of the land out of the equation, the home itself becomes more affordable. Homes are deed-restricted to ensure that the home remains affordable in perpetuity.

Cox's research came up flat. Only one regional organization (in Coeur d’Alene) was looking at the CLT model, but none had the capacity to pick up a project in the Sandpoint area. KLT held a community forum to determine whether it could be a good fit for the local area, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. The Board unanimously moved to begin establishing a CLT within the existing land trust bylaws.

“Ideally the community housing trust would not forever be a part of KLT. Instead, we wanted to be a catalyst that would support the eventual establishment of another nonprofit entity or find the right partner to join us and eventually take the reins,” Cox pointed out. 

A reasonable question some have asked is, “Why would a land conservation organization get involved with housing?” Cox explains that the initiative is in the best interest of conservation since the population boom is expediting subdivision of large swaths of land in rural areas, far away from the infrastructure that exists in population centers. As well, Kaniksu focuses a portion of their efforts on community challenges. There are a lot of negative impacts on both our community as well as our regional resources when people cannot live where they work.  

“People ask if we are taking lands that we have put into conservation and turning them into housing developments. No. We are not doing that,” she said. “Our priorities for community housing trust land is that it is close in with connectivity to town, trails, and nature, and has water, sewer, and other city services.”

In 2022, KLT began laying the groundwork for the initiative, first establishing a housing advisory committee that began drafting governing documents, structuring operations, drafting the ground lease, and researching mortgage and lending options. Simultaneously, KLT conducted property searches and reached out to donors for support. 

In July 2024, KLT funded a 6-parcel plot of land within Priest River city limits. With 6 buildable lots, water and sewer service, sidewalks, carports, and house plans for 1,500 square-foot, 3-bedroom/2-bathroom homes in place, this parcel that is located adjacent to a recent housing development is exactly what KLT and the housing committee were looking for.

With a population of about 1,800, Priest River’s average median household income is under $50,000 per year while the average home in that community costs $391,000. 

This drastic chasm between average income and housing cost requires a significant subsidy in order to keep the mortgage affordable for local families.

The trust will offer a 99-year renewable lease on the land and the homes can be sold or passed on to family as long as the succeeding owners meet the CLT criteria. Homeowners can earn equity capped at 2.5% per year. Cox outlined the basic criteria for qualifying buyers, saying they must live in and derive a minimum of 67% of their income from a 5-zip code boundary in the Priest River area.

“Remember, the goal is to provide an opportunity for homeownership for residents working in the community who are priced out of the real estate market. So, the deed restrictions include language that prevents telecommuters from qualifying,” she said. “And, the income guidelines are determined based on the community housing project location.”

Qualified buyer income must fall within the specified range of 80-120% of the local average median household income and family size must align with the size of the house. For instance, a married couple with no children would not qualify for a 3-bedroom home. “It’s important when you are in a housing crunch that all bedrooms are occupied. We ideally will in the future have multi-family housing that allows for homes to be purchased by individuals and families.”

While KLT and the housing committee continue to work with local and regional partners such as the Bonner Community Housing Agency (BCHA) and Selkirk Association of Realtors, a new partnership has emerged. LEAP Housing, an Idaho-based affordable housing nonprofit with an office in Boise and a growing presence statewide, has joined alongside KLT in this and future projects with the intent that LEAP will become this region’s housing trust non-profit.  

“Homeownership ought to be attainable for hard-working Idahoans who want a safe, stable, and affordable place to settle down and grow roots,” said LEAP Housing CEO, Bart Cochran. “As a North Idaho kid from Sandpoint, I’m excited to see our partnership with KLT result in homeownership opportunities that are synced to local wages, built for local people, and remain perpetually affordable for buyer after buyer in our community.”

With ongoing support from KLT, BCHA, and other community partners, LEAP is poised to expand the program into Sandpoint and surrounding areas of need. KLT has already identified several potentially suitable parcels near Sandpoint in Ponderay and Kootenai.

In an interview on the KRFY Morning Radio Show where Cox first announced the acquisition of the Priest River property, radio host Chris Bessler noted the difference between renting and owning a home. “For many people, home ownership offers security. It’s an asset.” 

Co-host Suzy Prez commented, “It makes me think of how this contributes to a sense of place. When children can grow up in the community where their parents work, families can spend evenings together without parents having to spend that time commuting.”

Cox reiterated, “Families can support events and activities in their own communities because they don’t live so far away.”  

Turco is hopeful for her family and others like them who live and work in Priest River. “This would be perfect for our community,” she said. 

Cox admits that the CLT is not the only possible solution to affordable home ownership or the housing crisis. “This is just one of the tools we have available to us. There are many other tools, this one just happens to be a really cool one that fits our particular community challenges.”