Addressing the lack of affordable housing
Photo courtesy BONNER COMMUNITY HOUSING AGENCY) One of the new construction properties that the Bonner Community Housing Agency has offered. The non-profit helps lower income residents with a variety of assistance and incentives to purchase or rent affordable housing in Bonner and Boundary counties.
BONNERS FERRY — The estimated median household income for Bonners Ferry is found to be $31,724, compared to $52,225 for the rest of Idaho, yet it could be argued that housing prices are similar to that of places with higher income opportunities.
This growing disparity between local income and housing prices has spurred a nonprofit to get involved.
The Bonner Community Housing Agency (BCHA) initially formed on an identified need to help employers to recruit and retain quality employees. By obtaining residential properties, for those quality employees who otherwise would not be able to afford to house themselves, the non-profit says that they are able to improve the workforce.
“The housing agency develops local housing for the two northern counties of Idaho,” said Chris Bassett, executive director for BCHA. “We work in conjunction with the Idaho Housing and Finance Association for funding to purchase, resell, or build new construction workforce housing.”
“We also manage transitional housing for people who have found themselves homeless and single family rental units in Bonner County for middle to low income families,” said Bassett.
A former mortgage lender from Sandpoint, Bassett started with the non-profit on the board of directors and stepped into the role of the non-profit’s administrator in 2010.
“Since then my role has increased to include becoming the executive director, managing projects, and advocating publicly for workforce and local housing,” said Bassett.
The housing assistance is available to local residents who earn less than 80 percent of the area’s median income, which is a number that is determined by the Housing and Urban Development agency (HUD).
“For example a family of four must make less than $49,700 in order to qualify for one of our homes or rentals, except transitional housing,” said Bassett. “We completed our first project in 2013 and have helped 18 families purchase their own homes.”
The process for those local homebuyers who qualify for program assistance has a few steps.
“For local County residents that wish to buy a home we offer the first time homebuyer education called Finally Home that allows people to earn credit towards special grants and down payment assistance options,” said Bassett. “Any project that BCHA develops, comes with down-payment assistance for the homebuyer of 20% of the purchase price, up to $40,000.”
The loan, assisted by the non-profit is a 0% interest loan with no payments.
“The home buyer will repay the loan upon sale of the house,” explained Bassett. “This dramatically reduces the overall mortgage payment required; for example, if someone was to try and purchase a home for $230,000, BCHA would assist with $40,000 for down payment assistance or closing costs.”
In addition to the income qualifier for this program, the new homebuyer must be able to contribute a $500 down payment.
For right now, Bassett concluded that the non-profit is interested in developing options to create more long-term affordable housing focused on low and middle income residents of both Bonner and Boundary Counties.
For more information visit bonnerhousing.org.