COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Coeur d'Alene was recently named the hottest housing market in the country by the Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com, but the title doesn't come without some growing pains.
The booming market has caused some locals to feel priced out of their own town. It doesn't look the market will slow down either, with housing supply failing to meet an ever increasing demand. In response, a local committee has formed to try to combat the issues the hot market has caused.
"The goal is to be able to get the right people at the table who can actually affect some change, and have that driven by what the public wants to see done," said Kiki Miller, a Coeur d'Alene Councilwoman driving the effort.
The group is called the Regional Housing and Growth Issues Partnership, and it created a survey for public feedback.
"We need public input, in order to say, 'How do we prioritize which one of these housing and growth issues to tackle?' First, there's many different aspects to it from, you know, water to employment, to the aesthetics of the community and the loss of quality of life, but it's also about jobs, and how people can afford to live here," Miller said.
Taysia Alani is a lifelong resident and mother struggling to buy a home in Coeur d'Alene. She said she is trying to leave her current apartment due to health concerns over a mold problem. But, moving into a home of her home has been anything but easy.
"I've lost a lot of sleep from it. You know, there's been a few weeks especially when nothing was coming up in our price range, where I just would not be getting any sleep," Alani said.
Alani said she thinks pricing is the first thing that needs to be addressed. It's a problem that has led her to decide to try to close on a house in Athol, about 20 miles away from her hometown of Coeur d'Alene.
""We're close to closing. We are just waiting on an appraisal on a place, and it is a place that needs work, but you know, we're pretty confident in doing that," she said. "It has been a really crazy, painful process for sure."
The survey is available through the Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization's website, and can be accessed by clicking here. The survey is open until May 5.