About Us
Connect Kootenai Housing Solution: Accessory Dwelling Unit
For Immediate Release
Greta Gissel
Executive Director
Connect Kootenai
208-620-1264
Free Accessible Dwelling Unit plan designs will be made available free to the public. In collaboration with the Kootenai County municipalities designs will fit the parameters of all cities and the county. This housing solution is one of many to preserve, promote and protect housing for citizens of Kootenai County.
Connect Kootenai a local nonprofit focused on providing housing solutions is proud to announce a Request for Proposal for Accessible Dwelling Unit designs from architects, home designers, and engineers. The designs will meet the prescriptive standards of the state building code and ADU code requirements.
Winning proposals will help provide housing solutions for local workers, seniors, college students, and provide multigenerational housing options, plus offer income opportunities for community members. Gissel stated “Housing is the foundation of our family structure.” “It’s about getting families into homes.”
The ADU plan sets will be pre-approved for use throughout Kootenai County. These designs will be made available free to the public, paving the way for widespread adaptation and potentially reshaping the housing dynamic in our region. The plans will be hosted on the Connect Kootenai website. www.ConnectKootenai.org
Designs must be submitted to Greta Gissel at greta@connectkootenai.org by Monday, November 20th at 5 pm. Judging of winning designs will be chosen by members of the Past Presidents of the NIBCA (North Idaho Building and Contractors Association). Winners will be notified in mid-December and recognized in local papers, bulletins and social media.
Kootenai County is faced with a housing crisis and ADU design plans are just one of the many solutions Connect Kootenai is working to provide. The Executive Director of Connect Kootenai was recently stated that today, according to the Next Steps: The Housing Availability and Affordability Study for Kootenai County, only 20% of Kootenai residents can afford to purchase a home today, a sad correlation to the numbers in 2016 when 75% of residents could afford to buy a home.
If you are interested in providing preliminary plans that meet the prescriptive standards, please visit www.connectkootenai.org for more information.