The West Central Housing Trust is getting a million-dollar grant to build affordable housing in Cascade.
In a 2-1 vote, the Valley County Commissioners voted to send $1 million of American Rescue Plan Act money to the housing trust.
Commissioner Sherry Maupin said this motion commits funds to affordable housing but the commission will come back later and sign a memorandum of understanding that lays out conditions.
Commissioners Maupin and Neal Thompson voted in favor while chairman Elting Hasbrouck voted no.
Maupin, who helped form the housing trust, said this funding request would be enough to cover three housing units in Cascade. However, the trust hopes to leverage the ARPA funds to get additional funding from the Idaho Housing and Finance Association. With both funding sources, the trust would ultimately be able to produce seven units, a triplex, and a four-plex in Raven Ridge in Cascade.
Comments from officials and residents
Clearwater Economic Development, a company the housing trust worked with to put together a housing strategy, found that Valley County would need over 1,000 units of affordable housing in the next decade to keep up with the growth.
“They have already identified on the low end we need 1,100 units. On the high end, we need 1,500 units in the next 10 years,” Maupin said. “This request would be three units…I don’t even know how we accomplish the task to support the amount of growth in this area.”
Two Valley County residents showed up at the meeting to that opposed the county spending tax dollars this way.
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“As a conservative, I have some concerns and I’d like to address them to you today,” resident Gary Swain said. “It’s concerns about taking taxpayer funds or its funding the existence by payroll other means of any private group. I have a problem with that. If the money is given to a private group, the county would have to view the books and ledgers of WCM to prevent waste, fraud and abuse.”
Commissioner Hasbrouck agreed with the resident’s testaments. He added that he wished the commission had more time to look at this.
The motion came with several conditions: Valley County employees would have first rights to the units, the funds will remain in the county’s control and be doled out on a construction invoice monthly, and even if the funds are sold in the future, the funding has to stay in Cascade for local housing.
The ARPA funds will be back on the commissioner’s desk when it is time to make a motion on the MOU.
