Addressing Moscow’s affordable housing problem

MOSCOW -- Construction will soon begin on a home built by architecture students at the University of Idaho.

The home is one of six one-bedroom homes to be constructed over the next six years by graduate students in the UI College of Art and Architecture’s Design-Build Program.

“Moscow has an affordable housing problem,” Madalyn Asker, one of the students, says in a YouTube video about the project, posted Wednesday. “Businesses are growing and recruiting more people but there’s just not enough housing to go around.”

Called the Lupine Flats Project, the work is a collaboration between UI faculty member Randy Teal and his students, UI alumnus Mark Engberg and the Moscow Affordable Housing Trust.

Engberg and his wife are loaning the capital for the materials interest-free, according to an email Friday from UI President Scott Green. Engberg also donated about $2,700 for tools, which Teal and his students will use to build the home this summer.

The students are working as employees of Engberg’s company, COLAB Architecture and Urban Design, based in Portland, Ore., while gaining hands-on experience.

“It’s really a unique opportunity,” Engberg said. “I think it’s important that students get that experience of developing property beyond the architecture part.”

Proceeds from the sale of the first home will fund construction of the second home. By the time the sixth house is built, Engberg anticipates the project will generate enough funds for the college to reinvest in the program.

The homes are being built on a small parcel of land along Palouse River Drive in Moscow.

Engberg hopes it’ll serve as a model for other housing projects in town and around the Pacific Northwest, where affordable housing options are limited.

“We hooked up with the Moscow Affordable Housing Trust and they said, ‘Here’s the land, let’s see what we can do,’ ” Engberg said. “It’s a big win for the students and a huge win for all of us.”

Palermo can be reached at apalermo@dnews.com or on Twitter @apalermotweets.