OPINION: When did affordable stop being affordable?

Is anyone else sick of the term affordable housing? 

Maybe it's not the term itself, but what it has come to mean. Because if we're being honest, there is very little that is affordable about today's affordable housing. And that's becoming a serious problem for North Idaho. 

More specifically, it's killing our ability to keep and house one of our most important assets: our kids. The young people who grew up here, graduated here, found jobs here, and want to raise families in the communities they call home. 

A recent report found the average salary in North Idaho is just over $55,000 a year. Meanwhile, median home prices have climbed to roughly $320,000 in Shoshone County and nearly $500,000 in Kootenai County.  

I understand that median home prices and affordable housing are not the same thing. But the obvious question is this: how far apart should they be? 

Today, purchasing a median-priced home in Shoshone County generally requires a household income somewhere between $70,000 and $85,000. In Kootenai County, that number jumps to well over $100,000 and can approach $125,000 depending on interest rates, taxes, and insurance costs. 

That's where the conversation starts to feel disconnected from reality. 

Federal and state housing programs define housing as affordable when a household spends no more than 30% of its gross income on housing costs. On paper, that sounds reasonable. In practice, many families are nowhere near that target. 

Consider what a median-priced home actually costs. In Kootenai County, annual ownership costs for a median home can exceed $40,000 when mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, and basic maintenance are included. That's roughly 70% to 80% of the average worker's annual salary, making it effectively impossible without a second average income. In Shoshone County, the percentage is lower but can still consume nearly half of that same income. 

The math simply does not work for a single average-income worker, and it is increasingly difficult even for households with two incomes. 

And sure, there's always renting, right? Wrong.  

For many young North Idaho residents and families, the choice is between spending $24,000 a year on rent and having nothing to show for it, or taking on a mortgage and stretching yourself as thin as possible. And neither option feels particularly affordable when you weigh it against the average income.  

And we're not even going to discuss the limitations on the rental market. 

The result is that we have created a housing market where teachers, police, nurses, mechanics, tradespeople, retail managers - fields being dominated by our kids - are struggling to afford the communities they serve. 

That should concern all of us. 

We don't need affordable – because that word no longer serves the people who need it most. We need attainable housing.    

Affordable housing is a political slogan more than an economic reality. And the people in those positions of power have lost sight of that issue. The problem is not whether a housing project carries an affordable housing label. The problem is whether ordinary working people can afford to live where they work. 

The solution isn't complicated, but it's certainly uncomfortable. North Idaho needs more homes that ordinary people can afford to buy and rent. Not luxury homes. Not investment properties.

Homes for our kids and those other people in our foundational workforce. Homes for young families trying to put down roots in the place we all got lucky enough to.  

And if our own kids can't afford to build their future here, then North Idaho has a much bigger problem than housing.