Idaho Legislature – VOTE NO on S1352, S1353, S1354, and H0800 Land Use Proposals. Preserve Individual Property Rights and Local Control (Posted: 03/05/26)

• Links: See list below

• See bill link above for current status and committee assignment

• See Idaho Insider for links where you can send group emails based on current status and committee assignment: gemstatechronicle.com/l…

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Idaho legislators have proposed four very concerning bills regarding housing and land use – S1352, S1353, S1354, and H0800. Their intention is to increase “affordable housing,” something government always fails at and should NOT be tinkering with.

The listed bills replace S1279, S1280, S1277, and H0647, respectively.

As of 03/04/26, all four – S1352, S1353, S1354, and H0800 – are in committee (though committees were changed from original bills).

While the newer versions generally are somewhat less restrictive than their predecessors, they still represent a state takeover of local property and land use matters, have NO place in Idaho, and must be stopped in committee.

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👎 S1352 - Starter home subdivision: legislature.idaho.gov/s…

S1352 prohibits cities from banning starter home subdivisions—defined as new single-family subdivisions on at least 4 acres—in residential zones. By October 1, 2026, cities must amend comprehensive plans and land use regulations for single-family zones (excluding historic districts) to prohibit minimum lot sizes over 1,400 sq ft, setbacks over 15 ft front/rear or 5 ft side, lot widths over 30 ft, lot depths over 70 ft unless constrained, allow at least 12 units per acre unless unfeasible, and cap fees at levels for other single-family subdivisions, with incentives allowed; it preserves health/safety laws and applies to cities over 5,000 population.

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👎S1353  - Twin home, duplex regulations: legislature.idaho.gov/s…

S1353 requires cities with populations over 5,000 to allow twin homes and duplexes in all residential zones where single-family dwellings are permitted, subject to limited historic district exceptions. It prohibits minimum lot sizes, parking requirements, impact fees, and utility fees that would effectively restrict such development beyond what is imposed on single-family homes. The bill mandates administrative, by-right approval of qualifying projects under clear and objective standards and sets a compliance deadline of October 1, 2026.

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👎S1354 - Accessory dwelling units (ADUs): legislature.idaho.gov/s…

S1354 prevents homeowners’ associations from prohibiting internal ADUs (with limited regulatory authority for reasonable rules) and bars cities with populations over 5,000 from banning ADUs in residential zones. It requires qualifying cities, by October 1, 2026, to update their comprehensive plans and land use regulations to allow one internal and one detached ADU per single-family lot (with exceptions for historic districts), prohibit owner-occupancy mandates, restrict excessive parking, impact fees, size limits, height limits, and setback requirements, and ensure ADUs are approved administratively as a matter of right under clear and objective standards.

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👎H0800 - Manufactured home, residential area: legislature.idaho.gov/s…

H0800 makes several changes to current law for manufactured homes.

• Allows manufactured duplexes to be treated as multifamily homes in zoning ordinances.

• Allows placement of single section manufactured homes on lots up to 400 square feet and multisectional manufactured homes on lots up to 800 square feet. (We assume multisectional is another name for “duplex,” but maybe it’s also allowing “triplex,” etc.)

• Expands “manufactured home” definition to include multidwelling unit manufactured homes constructed in accordance with HUD manufactured home construction and safety standards.

• Manufactured homes consisting of a single dwelling unit may be sited on lots where single-family dwellings are allowed.

• Multidwelling unit manufactured homes may be sited only in areas where multifamily dwellings are allowed.

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All four bills are sponsored by Rep. Jordan Redman (House and Senate bills) and Sen. Ben Toews (Senate bills).

• Senator Ben Toews Phone: (208) 332-1000

  Email: BToews@senate.idaho.gov

  Snapshot: gemstatechronicle.com/s…

• Representative Jordan Redman: Phone: (208) 332-1000

  Email: JRedman@house.idaho.gov

  Snapshot: gemstatechronicle.com/h…

These bills represent a state takeover of decision-making about land use and property rights of individuals, HOAs, and local jurisdictions (cities, counties, planning and zoning, etc.).

If passed, these bills could forever change single-family residential areas and communities many have worked so hard to create and preserve. All favor utilitarian concepts of "affordable or infill housing" over single-family neighborhoods and close-knit communities, local control over property and character of a place, and private property rights. All could reduce property values (and thus taxes to counties and cities, likely leading to tax increases to make up the shortfall). And all could erode the quality of life many who fled other states hoped to find in Idaho.

NOTE: Builders / Developers who dislike strict local HOA CC&Rs and Architectural Standards likely will support some or all of these bills.

Other states where such collectivist legislation has been enacted failed to yield affordable housing, destroyed the character of single-family home residential neighborhoods, trounced individual property rights and values, blighted areas that were once beautiful, and directly or indirectly caused people (and their tax money) to flee. Do we really want this fate to befall Idaho?

Here is a ChatGPT conversation link about negative effects elsewhere of similar measures. We have not removed ChatGPT biases or edited the conversation: 

• chatgpt.com/share/698f1…

State government should be protecting individual property rights and local control; not destroying them. These bills and any like them must be stopped.

Please VOTE NO on all these bills.

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Comments from others who reviewed the older bills…

When asked to review the newer bills, no one who commented on the older bills requested any changes to their comments.

Due to Substack Note space limitations, we could not include the comments here. But you can view them in our note about the older bills: tinyurl.com/yes2urv9

Related

• Idaho Legislature – VOTE NO on S1277, S1279, S1280, and H0647 Land Use Proposals. Preserve Individual Property Rights and Local Control: substack.com/@bige47/no…

• Idaho Legislature – VOTE NO on H0802 - Multifamily dwellings (Posted: 03/05/26): substack.com/@bige47/no…

• Idaho Legislature 2026 Bills to Support or Oppose: tinyurl.com/yc2jpkeh