COEUR d’ALENE — This year’s president of the Coeur d’Alene Association of Realtors hopes to highlight the need for affordable housing and see steps taken toward it.

One possibility would be to offer developers incentives such as tax credits to build affordable homes.

“We already know where people stand on a lot of these issues,” said Lindsay Allen. “We could have more forums and more city council meetings and be angry about things, but that doesn't do anything.”

Allen is a real estate agent for Living CDA Realty Group at eXp Realty. She was the Coeur d’Alene Association Realtor of the Year in 2021.

As CAR president, Allen said she hopes to bring a voice to affordable housing “and to be someone who’s pushing to see some action.”

Median home prices in the past year rose about 35% to $480,000 in Kootenai County. More people are moving to the area and many locals are being priced out of the housing market.

Allen noted that a recent housing study found that in 2016, 75% of people living here could afford a median-priced house. Today, about 25% of Kootenai County residents can afford the median housing cost.

“It’s time now to take some action and implement some real tangible programs or systems that will incentivize people to participate in this and make it happen,” she said.

Allen was born and raised in Idaho and is a University of Idaho graduate. She has about a decade of experience in the field.

In the coming years, Kootenai County will have to balance growth without losing its sense of community and maintaining quality of life, Allen said.

She doesn't see demand to live here going away. More homes will have to be built to keep inventory from falling too low and prices from climbing even higher.

“If we don't do anything about supply, pricing is going to get worse,” she said. “And if pricing gets worse, then we don't fill jobs.”

Idaho Realtors will have its Day at the Capitol on Feb. 1. Allen plans to be there. That’s when real estate agents and others in that field meet with legislators on issues key to their industry.

She believes they must be stewards of housing.

“Realtors have a pretty good relationship with the governor and the state Legislature,” Allen said.

While she has high hopes to see movement on affordable housing, she is also a realist.

“I know that there's probably nothing we're going to do this year to transform the landscape of affordable housing,” she said. “But if there's one thing I can do this year, it's to get our real estate community, the professionals, to really become more champions of this."

A problem: The cost of land and the permitting process to build is expensive, making it more economically sound for developers to build larger, more expensive homes, rather than smaller, less-costly ones.

“How do you make it financially sound for someone to get into building affordable housing?” Allen asked. “You don't want a 1,000-square-foot cottage on a $300,000 lot.”

Allen is aware there are many who oppose growth and fear it will lead to the loss of hometown sense and values. Some would like cities to follow the lead of Spirit Lake, which has a moratorium on sewer hookups, thus restricting new construction.

“We don’t want to turn North Idaho into Seattle or California,” Allen said.

But she said locals can’t control demand of those who want to live here and can’t shut down borders.

“We can't make people not move here,” she said.

They can, though, explore regulatory options, such as tax credits, to offset housing costs and improve the supply side of things for blue-collar workers.

East Sherman Avenue, long a target of revitalization, could be the hot spot for Coeur d'Alene's future growth.

“There's not really another area in Coeur d’Alene where you can increase the density without changing the complexion of the community,” Allen said.

One thing is certain.

Cities can’t wait for the perfect solution before doing something about affordable housing, she said.

“If we had just done something three years ago, we would be in a very different situation than we are now,” Allen said. “We've had so much growth in just a short period of time. We can't wait another five years."