Idaho is one of just five states that doesn’t have a designated residence for its governor — but that may change as the housing stipend fund is nearing depletion.
The Governor’s Housing Committee said at a meeting Wednesday that they want to begin looking into building or buying a home. Gov. Brad Little, who has a salary of $138,202, currently receives a monthly stipend of $4,550.67 to pay rent and utilities at a downtown Boise condo. Little and his wife, Teresa, also live at their home in Emmett.
The source of the stipend, the Governor’s Residence Fund, will be essentially depleted by fiscal year 2026, staff said at the meeting, and it will require action by the Legislature to continue. The fund was created by the sale of the previous governor’s mansion in 1990 and an appropriation from the state Permanent Building Fund.
“If we were going to ask for an appropriation anyway … maybe asking for an appropriation to buy an asset, as opposed to appropriating money to give them to either bank or pay a mortgage with, I feel like that might be a more appropriate route to consider going forward,” Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, said at the meeting.