That’s what you get when you elect tax-and-spend liberals. Raise taxes and only the wealthy can prosper.
Affordable housing in rural areas is a problem everywhere in Idaho, but it’s even more acute if you’re a person on the margins.
People with mental illness, addictions, a felony record — even some senior citizens — are finding it hard to locate a home they can afford. For social workers and others who try to help them get settled, the situation is alarming.
“People in rural areas losing housing are migrating to Lewiston or Moscow, and I’m seeing this migration of folks that are hitting these walls, especially in rural areas,” said Steve Bonnar, executive director of Sojourners’ Alliance, a nonprofit organization in Moscow that offers shelter to people who are homeless or in transition.
“We’re seeing a lot of single-parent families popping up right now. It’s kind of frightening, actually. (We’re) seeing a lot of households experiencing threats of losing housing for the first time.”
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there is a shortage of rental homes in Idaho that are affordable and available to extremely low-income households, whose incomes are at or below the poverty guideline of 30 percent of their area’s median income.
Idaho housing options scarce – or nonexistent
Editor’s note: Today’s story, published Sunday in the Lewiston Tribune, is the first in a series planned over the coming months about housing issues in the region. Affordable housing in rural areas is a problem everywhere in Idaho, but it’s even more acute if you’re a person on the margins.