Air Force families at base near Boise can’t find affordable homes. Now this is happening

Air Force service members and families have struggled for years to find housing near the Mountain Home Air Force Base about 50 miles southeast of Boise.

Some families have been forced to relocate to other Treasure Valley cities like Boise since a halt on building more on-base housing.

Betsy Hiddleston, spokesperson and senior economic development specialist for the city of Mountain Home, estimated that about 500 airmen live in Boise and make the hour-long commute down Interstate 84 every day.

Others have had to make do with substandard homes or RVs, or move even further away, such as to Twin Falls, according to the Associated Press.

“There’s more people than homes available,” Hiddleston said by phone.

But this could soon change. The city and a group of homebuilders are set to open the first of three phases of the 280-home Turner House Depot on Thursday. It is the city’s first big initiative to fix Mountain Home’s housing shortage, Hiddleston said.

With astronomical prices in Boise, some homebuyers seeking affordable housing have looked to Mountain Home, where it can be less costly to buy a home and commute up Interstate 84 every day, according to prior Idaho Statesman reporting.

The median price for a new home in Ada County was just under $547,000 in 2023, while the median cost to buy an existing home cost $513,000, according to the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service. In Elmore County, where Mountain Home sits, the median home price for a new home was about $394,000 while an existing home cost $330,000.

But buying a cheaper home in Mountain Home and commuting to Boise can lower the number of homes available to those who live and work in Mountain Home or on the base.

“(Turner House Depot’s) primary target would be the Mountain Home Air Force Base active-duty, but they’re open to anybody,” Hiddleston said.

Developers have amped up the construction of single-family homes in the city and are working on an eight-unit low-income housing development called Falcon’s Landing with Leap Housing, a Boise-based nonprofit focused on homeownership, Hiddleston said. But the 28-acre Turner House Depot is the densest project the city has yet seen.

More homes for Idaho airmen

The subdivision stemmed from a partnership between Simplicity by Hayden Homes, from Redmond, Oregon, and Ginn Group, out of Vancouver, Washington.

“The vision of Turner House Depot is to create a new community of over 280 smaller single-family homes in the heart of Mountain Home that will provide much-needed housing for individuals and families,” said Phil Wuest, president and chief development officer with Ginn Group, in a news release.

Home types include single-story two-bedroom and two-bathroom units designed specifically with roommates in mind, according to the release. They would also offer two-story, three-bed and 2½-bathroom models.

The first phase of construction includes 33 two-bedroom, two-bathroom homes at the southwest corner of Marathon Way and Elmcrest Street, about eight miles east of the base.

Each two-bedroom house in the first phase has connected bathrooms, a washer and dryer, stainless steel appliances and a one-car garage, according to real estate management company Fogleman Properties.

The rent is not cheap: Each 1,200-square-foot home runs $1,995 per month.

In comparison, the average rent for a two-bedroom single-family house in Ada County was $1,634 as of Sept. 30, according to the Southwest Idaho Chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Managers’ Q3 2023 report. The average was $1,350 in Canyon County.

The development would include a community center with a game room and fitness center, outdoor sport courts, a play area, and a dog park, according to the release. In the future, a pool could be added.

The city plans a ribbon-cutting and open house from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday at the corner of Elmcrest and NW Marathon Way with lunch, tours of new homes and a chance to win gift cards.

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