Housing and where do we go from here?

(This piece is the second in a series to address the issue of housing availability and affordability in the greater Sandpoint region.)

In 2019, the city conducted a housing assessment to better understand the local housing market and its ability to meet the needs of Sandpoint residents. The study provided a snapshot of housing inventory and examined general population and demographic changes over the last 5-10 years. Included within this data was an analysis of housing affordability and availability.

The study concluded with a number of suggested actions taken by other communities that could be applied in Sandpoint to address the local housing shortage and lack of affordability. Some of the solutions could be applied by developers, local employers, non-profits, through public/private collaboration or by other means. These I will address in future columns.

Local government and its citizenry have perhaps the most influence on this issue as many of the solutions can be applied through local Planning and Zoning regulations. In this piece, I will focus on some of these solutions. P&Z regulations influence what is built, where and how. This inherently influences the type housing, cost and volume of housing inventory in any community.

One of the most successful actions the city has taken since adopting the 2009 Comprehensive Land Use Plan is allowing accessory dwelling units throughout the city. This has significantly increased the number of accessory dwellings. ADUs are examples of “the missing middle housing.”

The “missing middle” is a recent term that refers to lower-cost, modest housing that is naturally more affordable than large single-family homes because units are typically smaller and require less land which is one of the most expensive components of housing cost. Missing Middle Housing (MMH) isn’t synonymous with “affordable” housing, which often implies a subsidy for construction or operations combined with income requirements. Other examples of MMH are townhomes, apartments, and other developments like cottage homes and duplexes that are compatible with single family home development.

Another successful action the city has taken was adopting a short term rental (STR) ordinance in 2017 which limited the number of STRs allowed within the residential neighborhoods of Sandpoint. With the advent of Airbnb, VRBO and other online platforms that enable property owners to rent homes to tourists, communities nationwide were seeing their rental housing disappear overnight in favor of tourist housing, especially in desirable resort communities like Sandpoint. The City’s STR ordinance was a model for the state protecting our long term rental inventory and the character and quality of our residential neighborhoods. The City may want to consider further reducing the number of STRs allowed in residential neighborhoods to increase protection of existing rental inventory.

Another success has been to reduce the minimum lot size from 7000sf to 5000sf. This has allowed development on a number of city lots that were previously unbuildable. This, along with more ADUs, has encouraged infill development which results in greater space efficiency, greater density and more affordable housing options. There is more that could be done here still.

Many cities have residential zones that allow greater development densities. While this may not be appropriate in all zones in Sandpoint, many cities have zones with lot sizes as low as 3500sf. Allowing greater density in general, including smaller required lot frontages, would increase capacity for MMH throughout the city.

Similarly, providing greater flexibility in developing substandard lots (lots smaller than 5000sf) and ADUs, like reducing setback from the street or increasing the number of bedrooms allowed in ADUs would go a long way toward creating more missing middle options.

The City’s Planned Unit Development (PUD) ordinance allows densities as low as 3500sf of lot area per unit. However, PUDs are only allowed on lots greater than 2 acres. There are few undeveloped lots of this size left in Sandpoint. If this minimum lot size were reduced to, say, a half-acre, it would allow far greater density in the Multi-family or commercial zones. Of course the density standard could also be increased.

When discussing development density, we also have to consider off-street parking requirements. Off-street parking is often the limiting factor when determining what level of density can be achieved on a given lot. One of the best things the City has done to encourage business and residential development in our commercial core is to eliminate off-street parking requirements downtown. Of course reducing standards comes with tradeoffs as streets become more crowded. Yet this may be something for the City to consider expanding to other zones or reducing the requirement for developments that provide more affordable housing units.

Planning and zoning is a powerful tool that citizens have to influence how their city is built. While a lot of good work has been done to encourage missing middle housing development, there is still a lot that can be done to provide more housing options and more affordable housing in Sandpoint.

Please join me for the Mayor’s Roundtable to discuss these issues and more this Friday, May 28, 2021, at 4 p.m. at Tasty’s, in the Cedar St. Bridge. I’m very excited as this will be our first in-person Roundtable since the pandemic began.