The Idaho State Board of Education is allocating $160 million to expand and renovate housing for students attending the University of Idaho.
Fox28 Spokane reports the university has a student housing crisis, with an incoming freshman class that is 40% larger than its predecessors in 2019. Because nearly all freshmen are required to live on campus in their first year, the university has been leasing a local motel for student housing needs.
Construction can start right away and the new apartments are expected to open for the fall semester in 2026. The renovation plan includes the creation of two new housing sets and the updating of 1,400 student beds at the school’s South Hill campus. This will add 150 beds for married and parenting students and 251 new student beds – the new accommodations will replace 431 beds set for demolition in existing buildings dating from the 1970s.
“These were modular Boise Cascade units built to a typical 25-30 year residential standard,” said Brian Foisy, vice president for the division of finance. “I spoke to our campus architects the other day and he indicated that he always hoped we could perhaps squeeze 50 years of life out of those facilities, I think the technical term he used was ‘eek.’”
The university is also planning to develop a new residence hall for undergraduates and market-rate housing for staff members.
I’ve seen the boom in apartments before in Moscow, Idaho, the University of Idaho and 8 miles away at Washington State University in Pullman, WA. Everyone flocked in, overbuilt with many of the locals left holding the bag