Boise wants to end family homelessness. The city’s effort just got a $2 million boost
Boise officials want to put a stop to family homelessness — and by the end of Tuesday’s City Council meeting, they committed $2 million toward the effort.
Though officials acknowledge that it would be impossible to end homelessness outright for families, the money would bolster a plan to make sure needs are met as quickly as possible.
Wyatt Schroeder, director of community partnerships for the city, told the City Council on Tuesday that the goal was to get to “net zero.” He said that would mean the city is in a place to assist families who are either homeless or about to be, as quickly as possible.
A cost analysis Schroeder presented from the Idaho Policy Institute at Boise State University found that spending $8.4 million over five years could help that goal come to fruition. The Ada County Commissioners have committed $500,000, Schroeder said, and the remaining $5.9 million would come from the community.
But where would the money go and how would it help families?
Schroeder pointed to four key areas: prevention, or working to keep families in their current housing; “rapid response,” which would offer short-term assistance to families that need immediate help; supportive housing, which would help those needing long-term support; and “innovation and administration,” which would include brainstorming new ideas to curb homelessness.
The ideal situation, Schroeder noted, would be helping at-risk families stay in their current homes. Schroeder said that would help “reduce the amount of trauma that especially a child goes through” when a family becomes homeless.
“We know, unfortunately, through too much research that the adverse childhood experiences that a child experiences in shelter and on the streets, means that the brain architecture wires differently,” he told the council. “It has a physical impact on their lifespan, their ability to live healthily, their rate of cancer, their rate of autoimmune diseases.”
Schroeder said getting the funds is vital to bringing the city’s capacity to help families up to necessary levels. It can’t meet all of those needs at present, leading to a waiting list for families. He indicated that the city needs to be able to ramp up services to meet demand, and can then scale them back as the program takes hold.
Would the money go toward building more housing?
Schroeder’s presentation noted that expanding services could happen in various ways, but little of it would involve new housing, something the city has done recently with a pair of projects. It could be as simple as helping a family make rent, including paying deposits, which often can be as much as an extra month’s rent.
It also could involve encouraging landlords to reserve apartments for families in need. Efforts are underway to figure out what kind of incentives would entice landlords to participate, but options include a fund for damage mitigation, making vacancy payments and making sure landlords are aware that because the city has a waiting list, there will be people available to fill the units.
Among council members’ questions was making sure the effort would be a collaboration that included local governments and private groups.
“This is a big, big next step, but it looks to me like the foundation is there to do it,” said Elaine Clegg, the council’s president pro tem.
Eliminating family homelessness was one of Mayor David Bieter’s main proposals in his 2019 State of the City address. He announced Our Path Home, a public-private partnership in which Boise would team with Ada County to provide a rapid response for families in need. At the time, Bieter said there were roughly 166 families experiencing homelessness in Boise.
The city’s other efforts include Grow Our Housing, which thus far has included reducing restrictions on backyard apartments and cottages, and promoting a “healthy housing ecosystem.”
Boise opened New Path Community Housing, an apartment building west of downtown for 40 chronically homeless families and individuals, in late 2018. It also broke ground in July on the 27-unit Valor Pointe apartments, a similar project with housing and services for homeless veterans, at 4203 W. State St. Valor Pointe is expected to open in 2020.
Official said the focus on family homelessness will include trying to place families within their own school district and where they have nodes of support.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the proposal, a decision that was met with applause from those in attendance.
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