Boise says it needs more housing for ‘very low income’ earners. This project would help
Boise needs hundreds of new homes each year for very low income earners to keep up with demand. A developer wants to help solve that on the Central Bench.
DevCo, a Bellevue, Washington, company, plans to build 112 affordable apartments at 5618 W. Franklin Road, near the northeast corner of West Franklin and North Curtis roads. For now, the site is a parking lot just east of Grover’s Pay & Pack Electric & Plumbing Supply.
The complex would have four apartment buildings, each four stories tall. One building would have 48 units, another would have 32 units and two others would have 16 units each.
The 112 units would be rented to tenants earning up to 60% of Boise’s area median income, Huber said. For a three-person household, 60% is $45,480 per year, according to the city’s income guidelines. For a four-person household, it’s $50,520.
People earning 30% of the area median income are considered “extremely low income.” People earning up to 60% are “very low income” and up to 80% are “low income.”
The government considers affordable rent to be 30% of a household’s income. So affordable monthly rent at the 60%-of-median-income level is $1,137 for a three-person household and $1,263 for a four-person household.
The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Boise in July was $1,421, according to Apartment List.
“This project is important, because it is addressing a large need within the city of Boise,” DevCo Development Manager Chase Huber wrote in an email, “and taking a step in the right direction to provide quality affordable housing to the people who need it.”
There would be a clubhouse with a fitness center. Units would have energy-efficient appliances and personal balconies, Huber said.
According to the city of Boise’s Housing Needs Analysis conducted in 2020, Boise needs 2,770 new housing units each year until 2030 to keep up with demand. Three-fourths of those new housing units need to be affordable to people earning 80% or less of the area median income.
People earning less than 60% of the area median income make up 36% of Boise’s population. The city needs 1,682 new housing units available each year for people earning up to that much, the city’s analysis said.
In February, Mayor Lauren McLean unveiled a plan to partner with developers to build 1,250 apartment units for low-income, working class renters in the next five years.
“We see affordable housing in Boise as a significant need,” Huber said.
Huber said the location is attractive because there’s a nearby bus stop on the corner of Curtis and Franklin roads, nearby retail and shops and Interstate 84 is within 2 miles.
The proposed project is a half mile west of the Moda Franklin apartments on the southwest corner of Franklin Road and Orchard Street. Construction began in the fall on the 205-apartment complex. It’s the first development in the city’s housing land trust and is planned to be completed in 2023. It’s geared mostly to renters earning up to 60% of the area median income.
DevCo’s proposal is also less than a mile south of another 201 affordable apartments proposed on the West Bench at 6160 W. Denton St.
Huber said the project is being financed through a federal tax credit program administered throughout the state by the Idaho Housing and Finance Association. In exchange for financing affordable housing projects, investors receive a reduction in taxes.
