Boise residents resisted their homes being demolished. Did they get what was promised?
After years of pushback from residents and neighbors, construction is under way for a three-floor, 175-unit, 550-bed apartment building south of Boise State University.
In early October, tenants living in the old Ridenbaugh Place Apartments at the corner of South Protest Road and West Boise Avenue rallied against the project as their eviction date approached. Controversy swirled as some residents said they struggled receiving the tenant assistance package from Subtext, the St. Louis-based development company constructing the new building.
That same day, Boise Mayor Lauren McLean said in a statement that the city would “not issue any permits or allow the developer to move forward with the project without the Tenant Assistance Package in place.”
The package included $4,000 payments to tenants living in one-bedroom apartments and $5,500 payments to tenants in two-bedroom apartments. At least 10 Subtext apartments at a lower rate are to be set aside for Ridenbaugh Place residents who wish to return once the new building is completed. Tenants with a family income equal to or fewer than 60% the area median income are eligible to return at the reduced rate for at least two years.
The people who previously lived in the one-story Ridenbaugh Place Apartments have all relocated. Subtext Vice President of Development Mitch Korte said every tenant living there in the fall who communicated with Subtext received the package. He said the city’s stipulations didn’t hold up the process.
Subtext plans to open the building in July 2023.
McLean signed the tenant-assistance package covenant on Oct. 20. Construction began shortly afterward, and about two dozen units were demolished.
“It was a big part of the approval that we were providing this relocation package to the tenants,” Korte said in a video interview. “(The city of Boise) just wanted to make sure that we were still doing what we said we would do. Which we were.”
Lori Dicaire, Intermountain Fair Housing Council investigator, said she communicated with the last 10 to 15 residents who remained before the demolition. Those were the residents who needed the most help, but Subtext didn’t assist tenants until the last few weeks before the eviction date, she said. In the end, Dicaire said every resident she worked with did find a new place to live.
For now, the site at 2001 W. Boise Ave. is filled with bulldozers and dirt. A fence separates the construction equipment from the rest of the neighborhood. The construction site is in front of the burger joint Big Jud’s, across South Protest Road is the taco truck Lolita’s, and across West Boise Avenue is the two-story University Manor apartment. Kitty corner from the future student apartment building sits Identity, another apartment building with five stories and 94 units built only a few years ago, marking a distinction between the old and the new.
The previous apartments were priced affordably compared with other places in Boise, where rents have skyrocketed recently. Rent was $1,095 for a two-bedroom apartment at the Ridenbaugh Place Apartments.
The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Boise was $1,202 in December, marking a 20.2% increase in the past year, according to Apartment List.
Korte said the new building is planned to have rents comparable to Identity and The Vista, two apartment buildings nearby that also are aimed at Boise State students, though others may rent there too.
Identity charges nearly $1,300 per month for a studio apartment and about $1,000 per bedroom in bigger apartments, according to its website. The Vista’s website says one-bedroom apartments cost $1,185.
The Subtext building, named The Verve, is on track to include 2,500 square feet of retail space, a coffee bar, a fitness center, a club room with a kitchen and television area. Outside, there will be an outdoor plaza and a courtyard with a pool, barbecue grills and a ping pong table.
Dicaire said developers forcing people to relocate is a troubling pattern, but the financial aid provided in this case could set an example for the future.
“In the future, this is precisely the type of displacement action that should trigger some sort of mitigation benefits for any residents who are going to be displaced based on the demolition of their homes,” Dicaire said by phone. “It wasn’t ideal, but this could be a great precedent for the city of Boise. We have to take into consideration the human impacts of our development and land use decisions.”
This story was originally published January 18, 2022 at 10:30 AM.
