Another bipartisan housing miracle, this time in Idaho

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Last year I did a pod on Montana’s surprising burst of bipartisan housing legislation. Turns out Idaho was watching. This year its legislature passed six housing bills of its own (two others failed). Republican state Sen. Ben Toews and Democratic state Rep. Megan Egbert join me to walk through what passed, what didn’t, and what they gave away to get it done — plus the property tax cap that quietly works against all of it, and why duplexes turned out to be the red line.

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction and the Idaho housing package

02:43 – How each guest came to the housing issue

06:39 – Inside the interim housing study committee

09:05 – SB 1354, ADUs by right, and Dillon’s Rule

12:52 – The 5,000 to 10,000 compromise, and HOAs

15:03 – SB 1352 starter homes, manufactured homes, lot splits

16:28 – HB 706 and single-stair buildings

18:11 – The permitting shot clock and the 6-day rule

19:48 – Living with the compromises, and why counties were left out

22:54 – The two bills that died: duplexes and YIGBY

28:41 – HB 389, the property tax cap, and the growth undertow

34:41 – What the public understands about growth

37:23 – Regulatory reform on supply side vs. incentives for housing

43:59 – The February deadline and city resistance

48:52 – Horizontal vs. vertical density

56:03 – What comes next for the committee & Idaho housing