Panhandle Affordable Housing Alliance

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Hayden, ID
Panhandle Affordable Housing Alliance

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PAHA is a 501(c)(3) that promotes and supports Home Ownership opportunities in Kootenai County.

PAHA is Fannie Mae Certified in Deed Restriction and Community Land Trust Properties.

10/20/2026

Progress takes more than a good idea. It takes leaders willing to give that idea a chance.

When PAHA set out to create Miracle on Britton, there was no local roadmap for what we were proposing. It required a different approach, a tremendous amount of collaboration, and a willingness to believe that attainable homeownership could look different than it had before.

The City of Post Falls was part of making that possible.

At our completion celebration, Mayor Randy Westlund spoke about the American Dream, the power of community partnerships, and what can happen when people decide something is important enough to work together to achieve.

We are grateful to Mayor Westlund, the City of Post Falls, and the many partners who helped turn an ambitious vision into 28 homes for working North Idaho households.

Because sometimes the most important thing a community leader can do is make room for a new solution.

And as Mayor Westlund said, we hope this is just the beginning.

Miracle on Britton has shown what's possible. Now we have an opportunity to take what we've learned and help more communities create lasting pathways to homeownership.

Thank you, Post Falls, for helping us show that it CAN be done. 🧡

10/16/2026

Here's a radical idea: What if we actually listened to the people we're trying to house?

We hear a lot about the need for more affordable housing. More density. More units. More creative solutions.

And yes, we need a variety of housing options. But somewhere in that conversation, the voices of the actual buyers keep getting lost.

At Miracle on Britton, we listened.

Working North Idaho households told us they wanted something pretty simple. A modest home. A little yard. Ownership of the land beneath their feet. A place to raise their kids, put down roots and build equity.

Not everyone wants shared walls. Not everyone considers a community park a substitute for their own backyard.

And wanting those things shouldn't automatically price hardworking local families out of homeownership.

So we tried something different.

28 households trusted a brand-new organization, a new process and a vision that hadn't yet been proven. Today, they're homeowners.

In this clip from our completion celebration, Maggie Lyons reminds us exactly who took that leap of faith with us — and why their trust means so much.

The question now isn't whether this model can work. We've demonstrated that it can.

The question is whether more communities, organizations and decision-makers are willing to listen to the people they're trying to serve.

Because building more housing matters.

Building housing people actually want to call home matters, too 🧡

10/13/2026

Before we talk about deed restrictions, donors, partnerships, or the housing crisis… take a good look at these faces. 🧡

These are the people behind Miracle on Britton.

The people who dared to believe homeownership might actually be possible again, even after giving up hope of ever being able to afford a home in Kootenai County.

They took a chance on something that had never been done before.

They navigated a brand-new process. Completed hours of homebuyer education. Worked through loan pre-approvals. Waited months, wondering if this dream was really going to become their reality.

And through it all, they reminded us what they were really hoping for.

Not extravagance. Not luxury.

A little yard. A piece of land they could actually own. A place to put down roots. A home to call their own.

They told us what mattered. And we listened.

We spend a lot of time talking about the work it took to make Miracle on Britton possible. The challenges, the partnerships, the generosity, the model that will preserve these opportunities for generations to come.

And those stories deserve to be told.

But today, we just want you to look at the people who made all of that work worth doing.

28 households. Real people. Real dreams. Real futures taking shape right here in North Idaho.

This is who we do it for.

And this is why we're not stopping at 28. 🧡

It CAN be done.

10/08/2026

In a county where the median home price is $565,000, imagine being able to buy a brand-new home starting at $292,000. 🏡

At Miracle on Britton, 28 working North Idaho households got that opportunity, with base home prices ranging from $292,000 to $405,000.

But here's what makes this community truly extraordinary.

These families own BOTH their homes and the land beneath them. And through a first-of-its-kind deed-restricted homeownership model, these homes will remain priced below market value for future buyers, too.

Not just 28 families today. Generations of families tomorrow.

It took an idea. Persistence. Courage to try something new. And an entire community of donors, partners and believers who refused to give up.

Esto Perpetua. Let it be perpetual.

Idaho's state motto, brought to life right here in North Idaho.

To everyone who helped make this possible, your legacy is just beginning. 🧡

It CAN be done.

10/05/2026

28 homes. 28 families. One incredible community that made it possible. 🧡

This weekend, we gathered at Miracle on Britton to celebrate something that once existed only as an idea:

What if working North Idaho households could once again afford to own a home in the community they already call home?

Today, 28 families have their answer.

But Miracle on Britton was never the work of one person or one organization.

It took donors who believed before there was much to see. Builders and tradespeople willing to approach things differently. Lenders and title professionals willing to help create a new path. Community partners who contributed their time, expertise and resources. And 28 households willing to trust that when we told them homeownership might actually be possible, we meant it.

This weekend, we got to stand together in the neighborhood all of those people created and simply celebrate.

Because these aren't just 28 beautiful new homes.

They're backyards and birthday parties. Mortgage payments that build equity. Kids riding bikes through the neighborhood. Roots being planted. And working North Idaho families getting the opportunity to build their futures in the community they help sustain.

And the impact doesn't end with them.

Esto Perpetua - let it be perpetual. Idaho's state motto couldn't be more clearly embodied than it is in this community.

Through the Britton Model, these homes will remain priced below market for future buyers while allowing the families who own them to build equity of their own.

That means the opportunity created here doesn't disappear when these first 28 families eventually move on.

It continues.

That may be the most beautiful part of what we celebrated this weekend.

Miracle on Britton showed us what can happen when a community stops asking whether something is possible and starts asking what it will take to make it possible.

To every homeowner, donor, partner, volunteer and believer who helped us get here:

Thank you. Look what you did. 🧡

And now?

We keep going.

The Britton Model has been built. It has been tested. And it was always meant to be replicated.

"It CAN be done."
-Ronald Reagan

10/02/2026

What does it actually take to create attainable homeownership? 🧩

Building the house is only one piece.

Land. Builders. Funding. Buyers. Lenders. Title professionals. Community partners. Education. Long-term program stewardship.

And one particularly important piece of the Britton Model: deed restrictions.

At Miracle on Britton, deed restrictions help protect affordability for the future while still allowing today's homeowners to build equity.

That balance matters.

Because the goal isn't simply to make a home attainable once.

It's to create a pathway to homeownership today while preserving an opportunity for another working North Idaho household tomorrow.

Miracle on Britton came together because a lot of pieces (and a lot of people 🫶🏼 ) came together to create something that hadn't been done here, or anywhere, before.

28 homes are the result.
28 families with brighter futures are the why.
The Britton Model is the bigger picture. 🧩

09/29/2026

It took a community to build Miracle on Britton. 💛

These new recognition stones now have a permanent home in the neighborhood, honoring the donors and community partners who helped make Miracle on Britton possible.

From the beginning, it was important to PAHA that every contribution be recognized, regardless of its size. Because a project like this doesn't happen because of one person, one organization or one gift.

It happens when a community believes in an idea and comes together to make it real.

Today, 28 working North Idaho households have a pathway to homeownership because so many people chose to be part of that effort.

Take a look through the photos and read the names.

To every donor and partner represented here: thank you. Your generosity has made an impact beyond belief in the lives of these families for generations to come 💛

09/24/2026

The housing problem isn’t one problem. And it won’t have one solution.

When we talk about housing affordability, we often talk about it as though everyone struggling to afford a home falls into the same category.

They don’t.

The housing gap reaches across a wide range of incomes, and different households need different solutions.

We absolutely need housing for our lowest-income workers. But there is another group being increasingly squeezed out of homeownership in North Idaho: our middle and upper-middle income working households.

Teachers. Firefighters. Nurses. Tradespeople. Small business owners. The people building careers, raising families and contributing to our local economy every day.

They may earn too much to qualify for traditional affordable housing programs while still not earning enough to buy a home at today's market prices.

That gap matters.

Because a healthy community needs more than jobs. It needs the people doing those jobs to be able to live here, build equity here, raise their families here and participate in the economy they're helping sustain.

Different incomes. Different needs. Different solutions.

So maybe the conversation isn't simply, “Do we need more affordable housing?”

Maybe it's:

Who are we trying to house? And are we building solutions that actually work for THEM?

We want to hear what you think. 👇

09/21/2026

Building the home is only part of the work.

Creating a sustainable pathway to attainable homeownership means building an entire system around it.

At Miracle on Britton, PAHA didn't simply build homes and add deed restrictions.

We learned how to identify and qualify buyers. How to match households with homes they can sustainably afford. How to work with lenders, builders and title professionals. How to educate homeowners about shared equity. How to administer deed restrictions today... and protect the opportunity for the next buyer tomorrow.

And every buyer receives multiple trainings before they ever receive their keys.

That's the part of attainable homeownership most people never see.

The house is the visible result 🏠
The model behind it is what makes it work 💪🏽

09/09/2026

Kootenai County has been discovered. We can't undo that.

And simply refusing to build won't preserve the community we love.

The bigger question is: who gets to stay?

Maggie Lyons puts it plainly: if we want to protect the character of Kootenai County, we need to build homes our local workforce can actually afford to buy.

Growth is happening. The question is what kind of community we choose to build as it happens.

That's a conversation worth having.

Address

P. O. Box 598
Hayden, ID
83835

Telephone

+12086593477

Website

https://www.pahaid.org/

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