Comments on: Lament Of A Growthophobe (A Rant)

By: Navillus.55

Navillus.55 — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 19:53:29 +0000

I moved here from the Midwest in June 1970 — my husband at the time had grown up in the Nampa/Caldwell area and wanted to return. The population was 79,000 and we bought a two-story almost new house on half-an-acre for $30,000.00. I worked at Albertson’s General Office and I remember the Department Head said he had never paid anyone $100.00 per week and he expected me to do the work of two people. Boise was such a nice place then and no worries what-so-ever about crime or traffic. (I do recall there weren’t any kindergartens in the schools, but that was okay.) Now, I live alone in a much smaller townhome and a lady down the street just sold her unit for $420,000.00. What is happening today in Boise is absolutely crazy !!! If we could only go back to the good ole days…

By: Frank

Frank — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 12:30:22 +0000

Dave your right about those Idaho natives subsidizing out of the area home buyers. Most of your followers would be surprised at the number of investors vs families making the purchases. Of course not to many, if any, families are, developing all the apartments?
On our street a Californian purchased a home for $380,000 last September, commuted back and forth from CA to work on it. They split the lot and the house sold for $550,000. The lot is listed for sale. Don’t know the asking price.
That house should be assessed for the sales price of $550,000. THE YEAR OF THE TRANSACTION. It won’t be, not even next year. So the neighbors living in their homes for years CONTINUE TO subsidize Californians exploitation of Boise.
TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
As far as Boise hiring more bodies I ask you this, do you think some of our appointed and hired public servants aren’t qualified for their position?

By: Hard line realities

Hard line realities — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 14:18:44 +0000

I say a quip recently that seemed to ring true.

In a true capitalistic setting, supply would automatically increase to meet demand.

At what price is another question. All most landlords can do is sell to the highest bidder.

Idaho could create a tax solution for this.

By: Night Trader

Night Trader — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 21:56:19 +0000

So what Villager? GregN makes perfect sense to me. If you can’t pay your entry-level employees enough to live here; guess you don’t belong in business here.

By: Villager

Villager — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 16:53:47 +0000

GregN must not be one of the employers trying to hire entry level employees in Boise (or anywhere).

McCall & Sun Valley have this problem to a bigger degree. GregN would say, “employer, build your own affordable employee housing.” Good luck small business owners.
Or maybe GregN just lives in the 19th Century.

FunkHobo69 has a great point. There is some talk within city folk about that issue.

By: Boise Lawyer

Boise Lawyer — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 05:02:24 +0000

““In Boise’s favor were *STATE* incentives like a Workforce Development Training Fund, a reimbursement program . . .”

I agree these types of programs are terrible but this isn’t local government issue.

EDITOR NOTE–You are correct, but LOCALS have to respond with schools, roads, police, fire, etc. and because they created the urban renewal district there is no new tax money. The STATE attracts the newbies and LOCALS have to pay for the resulting demands for services. Time to kill the incentives!

By: FunkHobo69

FunkHobo69 — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 01:25:21 +0000

Until the city makes a move to regulate short-term rentals, all of their talk about “affordable” housing is just hot air. About 20% of housing sales in the area are to non-owner-occupiers, so placing limits on AirBNBs would go a long way to increasing the supply of long-term rentals and reducing prices. Building more housing units just brings in more real estate gamblers, at least in the short term.

By: Porcupine

Porcupine — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 00:32:34 +0000

Got to love it… our issue was to kill the deal by trying to get the city to put the ground up for action….

By: Inna

Inna — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 00:06:46 +0000

Even complete anarchy would be a better form of governance than this convoluted kleptocracy.

By: GregN

GregN — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 21:06:56 +0000

I’m still trying to figure out why it is the city government’s, i.e. taxpayers, responsibility to make “affordable” housing available.