When communities talk about economic development, the conversation often centers on jobs.
How can we attract a new employer? Help an existing business expand? Bring new investment into the community? Create better opportunities for local workers?
Those questions matter.
But successful economic development creates another question almost immediately: Where will those workers live?
A Job Needs a Home
Employment growth creates housing demand
Imagine an Idaho community successfully recruits a new employer that plans to hire 150 people.
That’s good news.
But those jobs don’t exist in isolation. Each new employee needs somewhere to live. Some may already live nearby. Others may commute from neighboring communities. Some may want to relocate but discover there simply aren’t enough homes available within their budget.
Suddenly, a workforce problem becomes a housing problem.
And a housing problem can quickly become an employer problem.
Businesses can’t hire people who can’t reasonably live near the job.
Economic Development Doesn’t End at Recruitment
Communities need the capacity for success
Roads matter to economic development. So do utilities, broadband, schools, workforce training, and other infrastructure.
Housing belongs in that conversation too.
A community can have available jobs, good schools, strong employers, and an appealing quality of life. But if workers can’t find somewhere to live, those advantages become harder to translate into sustainable growth.
Housing availability affects whether a new employee can relocate, whether a young worker can stay after graduation, and whether an existing employee can remain in the community as their family grows.
A “for rent” or “for sale” sign represents more than an available property.
It represents capacity.
Planning for Success Is Better Than Reacting to It
Housing should grow alongside opportunity
No community wants uncontrolled growth. Idahoans understandably care about protecting the character, open spaces, neighborhoods, and quality of life that make their communities special.
Planning for housing is part of protecting those things.
When communities anticipate where growth is likely to occur, they can make deliberate choices about infrastructure, transportation, land use, and different types of housing.
That is very different from waiting until workers are commuting longer distances, employers are struggling to hire, and housing shortages have become acute.
Good planning gives communities more control over how they grow.
What This Means for Idaho
Idaho’s economic success depends on our ability to create opportunity.
But creating a job is only part of the equation.
Communities also need places for teachers, nurses, construction workers, engineers, manufacturing employees, hospitality workers, first responders, and young professionals to live.
Housing is not separate from economic development. It helps make economic development possible.
The Takeaway
The next time you see a “for rent” sign, think beyond the apartment or home behind it.
That available home might allow a teacher to accept a job, a young graduate to remain in their hometown, or a skilled worker to relocate for a new opportunity.
Sometimes economic development looks like a new business opening its doors.
Sometimes it looks like having a front door available for the people who will work there.