The Gem State Shines on Zoning Reform |
Idaho
The Gem State Shines on Zoning Reform
What Idaho's slew of zoning reforms says about YIMBY politics and policymaking in the states.
Christian Britschgi | 4.21.2026 4:30 PM
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Happy Tuesday, and welcome to another edition of Rent Free. This week's newsletter covers the flood of housing reforms that passed the Idaho Legislature this session, and what they say about where the policy and politics of zoning reform is at.
The Gem State Shines on Zoning Reform
While it doesn't lend itself to easy alliteration like the "Montana Miracle," Gem State lawmakers have now, like their eastern neighbors, passed a long series of bills right out of the YIMBY ("yes in my backyard") playbook during a single session of the state Legislature.
Here's what Idaho's slew of zoning reforms says about YIMBY politics and policymaking in the states.
Rent Free Newsletter by Christian Britschgi. Get more of Christian's urban regulation, development, and zoning coverage.
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Top of the list is Idaho's now-enacted "starter home" law, S.B. 1352, which would require cities of 10,000 people or more to update their land use laws to allow single-family homes on lots as small as 1,500 square feet within new subdivisions of at least four acres.
Minimum lot size laws can require new homes to sit on as much as an acre, or more, of land. Critics argue that these laws raise the price of housing by requiring each home to consume land in excess of what builders and homebuyers might want.
Over a dozen states have considered similar "starter home" reforms allowing small homes on small lots this year.
Idaho's appears to be the most robust such policy to pass at the state level, given the small size of........