Bill Description: Senate Bill 1279 would limit HOA and local government restrictions on starter home subdivisions.
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NOTE: This bill is part of a slate of bills, including Senate Bills 1277, 1278, 1279, and 1280, as well as House Bill 647, to alleviate housing shortages and expand property owners’ options by limiting the restrictions HOAs and local governments can impose on them.
Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the United States Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the US Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?
Senate Bill 1279 would create Section 55-619, Idaho Code, to prohibit HOA covenants that “strictly prohibit or unreasonably restricts the construction of starter home subdivisions.” This prohibition would not apply to restrictive covenants entered into prior to July 1, 2026.
The bill defines a “starter home subdivision” as “a proposed new subdivision for single-family dwellings located on vacant or undeveloped land that is at least four (4) acres in size.”
Placing limits on HOA restrictions can have both pros and cons, depending on how the HOA functions and how responsive (or unresponsive) it may be to the property owners it governs.
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The bill would also create Section 67-6541, Idaho Code, to say that “no county or city shall enact or enforce any ordinance within its jurisdiction that bans starter home subdivisions in any residential zoning area.”
The bill would include several specific limits on local regulation.
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