Fight over homeless shelter on State Street is about to come to a head. What to know
When Marie Callaway Kellner attended a Sunset Neighborhood Association meeting in October, there was a crowd of around 100 people. She didn’t recognize many of them. Before that, association meetings typically drew fewer than 30 people at most.
The meeting concerned a proposed new location for the Interfaith Sanctuary homeless shelter in a former Salvation Army store and office at 4306 W. State St. Several people began shouting and saying the association needed to speak out against the shelter, said Callaway Kellner, a Sunset resident who works for the Idaho Conservation League.
“It was really an awkward and very unpleasant vibe at the meeting,” she said.
By the end of the meeting, 66% of those in attendance had voted in favor of issuing a statement against the shelter.
Callaway Kellner said she and many of her neighbors support the shelter, and she’s been surprised by the negative tenor of debate surrounding it. Others from the local area in support of the shelter told the Statesman they didn’t want to comment because of the backlash they received from their neighbors.
The debate has been raging for months, manifesting in various protests, social media pages and letters to the editor. Businesses near the shelter have put anti-shelter messaging on large signs.
One of those business owners, Dave Bigelow of Burger N’ Brew, said he’s concerned about the potential impact on his business, which is across State Street from the proposed site. His restaurant’s signs have read “Housing Not Warehousing” and “Save Our Neighborhood.”
“I hate putting political things up,” Bigelow said in an interview in his restaurant. “But I’m just worried about what’s going to happen.”
Now, all of it comes to a head, as the city Planning and Zoning Commission prepares to hear a request for a conditional use permit during a public hearing at 6 p.m. Monday at City Hall. It could become an ugly and tense marathon as hundreds testify either in favor or against the new shelter.
Opposing views spar for months
Interfaith officials hope to shelter more than 200 people nightly in what would be Boise’s only low-barrier shelter, which often have fewer requirements for admission than other, more restrictive shelters.
Interfaith Executive Director Jodi Peterson-Stigers announced the purchase of the State Street building in April. She said Interfaith needed a larger, newer shelter for their guests.
“I know that we’ve done everything appropriately,” Peterson-Stigers said by phone. “As far as the organic process of our application, I feel super good about it.”
One of the primary opponents has been another neighborhood association, the Veterans Park Neighborhood Association, in which the new shelter would be located. Katy Decker, the president of the association, said Friday that her organization was still working to send letters to Planning and Zoning before Monday.
“It’s definitely been an emotional roller coaster,” Decker said. “(State Street) is simply inappropriate for a shelter.”
Mayor Lauren McLean asked in June for Interfaith to pause its application for a permit. That led to the creation of the Shelter Better Task Force, a group of appointed shelter and neighborhood leaders that met for eight weeks to discuss how to improve shelter and housing in Boise. It was originally asked to recommend a location for a new Interfaith shelter, but that idea was scrapped midway through the process.
Interfaith resumed its application process after the task force’s final meeting.
Supporters, opponents write letters to commissioners
No Shelter on State, an anti-shelter Facebook page, is encouraging people to show up Monday with chairs and blankets. A livestream of the meeting will be shown in the City Hall lobby.
The response virtually has been massive as well. Nearly 1,800 pages of public comment have been submitted to Planning and Zoning, with a healthy mix of those in favor and those opposed.
Some wrote in the letters that a large number of neighbors support the shelter, and those opposed simply have been the loudest on the issue.
“There is no reason to believe the voters in the (Sunset Neighborhood) election represent the views of the neighborhood,” said Eric White, a Sunset resident who said only 6% of residents participated in the vote on the statement of opposition.
It’s a point of view that Peterson-Stigers shares. She said people who support tend not to show up to public meetings, because they already understand the issue.
“We haven’t had productive conversations with those who have shown opposition from the first day to now,” she said.
Those against the shelter cite the possible increases in crime and decreases in property values. Others wrote in the letters that the shelter is too big to be located near a residential area. Houses border the property to the east and north.
Interfaith currently leases its building on River Street, which it sold after purchasing the State Street location. Peterson-Stigers said State Street is the only location they have lined up, and without it, hundreds of unsheltered Boiseans could find themselves with nowhere to go.
“If we are unsuccessful in securing a conditional use permit ... in about 12 months Interfaith Sanctuary won’t have a building to expand into, and it won’t have a building to stay in,” Peterson-Stigers said.
The Shelter Better Task Force conducted a land use survey and found few other locations in Boise that Interfaith could move into and effectively carry out its mission.
Decker said she believes Interfaith created a “crisis” for itself by selling its River Street building before getting permits for a new location.
Nevertheless, the issue of a shelter likely won’t die if the Planning and Zoning Commission reaches a decision Monday. An appeal to the City Council can be filed within 10 days of the decision, and Decker and Peterson-Stigers both said they would file should the commission rule against them.
After the council decides, either side could potentially sue. Among the hundreds of letters sent to commissioners, two were from attorneys representing the shelter and various neighborhood associations.
This story was originally published November 14, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
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