Need help paying rent? Finding an apartment? Getting legal help? Find assistance here
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Affording Boise: Rental housing
Soaring rents. Skyrocketing home prices. The double-digit rates of increase in the costs of Boise-area housing create increasingly urgent problems for low-income, working-class and even moderate-income Idahoans who need places to live. Affording Boise is a series of Idaho Statesman special reports on housing. This collection focuses on rental homes, including apartments. A separate collection focuses on homeownership.
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Editor’s note: This is part of Affording Boise, an occasional series of Idaho Statesman special reports on rising local housing costs. Send tips or ideas to rspacek@idahostatesman.com.
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The Boise area has attracted thousands of new residents the past few years, helping to drive up the demand and price of housing. Since March 2020, rental prices in the Treasure Valley have skyrocketed by 33.6%.
This increase is pricing some families out of homes and into the street. Here are some resources for people who need help with housing, and some ways Idaho Statesman readers can help.
Struggling to pay your rent?
Get money to pay rent: Jesse Tree offers rental and deposit assistance. You must be a resident of Ada or Canyon counties and be behind on rental payments, or are housed in a hotel and have secured a new place to live but are in need of a security deposit to move.
To get help, visit jessetreeidaho.org/apply or call or text 208-383-9486. You can also come the office at 1121 W. Miller Street in Boise, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Get help fighting evictions: Jesse Tree provides a case manager to anyone with an eviction court date. The case manager supports the tenant and can arrange for rental assistance.
If you have an eviction court date, call or text Jesse Tree at 208-383-9486 or visit jessetreeidaho.org/apply.
Idaho Legal Aid gives free legal advice to tenants facing problems with housing like evictions, repairs, security deposits or housing discrimination.
The advice line, 208-746-754, is open from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. You can also apply for help online at idaholegalaid.org/node/2413/apply-legal-assistance.
Homeless?
Emergency shelter: The Boise Rescue Mission, the area’s largest shelter system, operates three shelters:
- River of Life Rescue Mission, open to men, 575 S. 13th Street, Boise 83702
- City Light Home for Women and Children, open to women and children, 1404 W. Jefferson St., Boise 83702
- Valley Women and Children’s Center, open to women and children, 869 W. Corporate Lane, Nampa 83651
The Christian ministry is entirely privately funded, and it requires guests to be sober. A person experiencing homelessness who shows up drunk or high will be placed in a separate dorm area for the night to sober up. The Rescue Mission assists with addiction recovery.
The Rescue Mission requires men and women to separate with any children staying with the women. It offers meals open to anyone at all of its shelter locations. Call 208-343-2389 or visit the shelters.
Emergency shelter: Interfaith Sanctuary has a single shelter in Boise and has rented rooms at the Red Lion Downtowner for families with children. Interfaith does not have sobriety requirements. Couples, with or without children, can shelter overnight together, and families can stay together at the Red Lion, including single parents with children, though there is a waiting list.
Call 208-343-2630 after 4 p.m. or stop by the shelter at 1620 W. River Street, Boise 83702, around 4 p.m.
Day shelter: Corpus Christi House, a Catholic charity, operates a year-round day shelter with hospitality services like laundry and showers, and it has a public telephone. It also serves meals on the patio.
It is at 525 S. Americana Blvd. Boise, 83702. Call 208-426-0045 for assistance.
Warm-up shelter: A temporary warm-up shelter opened in downtown Boise this winter. The shelter offers hot beverages. It is a partnership between the city of Boise and the homeless shelters.
The shelter is at 11 S. Americana Blvd.. It is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day.
Help finding housing: CATCH runs two rapid-rehousing programs. The Linda Fund helps connect families to permanent housing and pays for the deposit and first month of rent. The Linda Fund is for families that have an income and just need help with the first few payments.
The Taking Root program pays for the deposit for a family and also as many months of rent as it takes for the family to begin paying on their own, for up to two years. For Taking Root, the waiting list is 195 families long. It takes about two years for families to make it to the top of the list.
Contact CATCH in Ada County from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday by calling 208-495-4240 or visiting the office at 503 S. Americana Blvd., Boise 83702, or email at ourpathhome@catchprogram.org. To contact CATCH in Canyon County, call 208-495-5688 or email accesspoint@catchprogram.org.
Help finding housing: The Idaho Housing and Finance Association offers online resources to help you locate an apartment that fits your price range. Visit idahohousing.com/find-a-rental.
Help finding housing: Leap Housing Solutions is a nonprofit that aims to create more affordable housing options. Affordable housing for rent or purchase can be found at leaphousing.org/homes. Information can also be found by emailing info@leaphousing.org or calling 208-391-2823.
Need food?
For a list of food pantries in the Boise-area, visit www.foodpantries.org/ci/id-boise
How you can help
Donate to CATCH: catch.donorwrangler.com/donate/?id=1
Donate to Interfaith Sanctuary: interfaithsanctuary.org/get-to-know-me/#gtkm-donate. You can also donate by purchasing items on Interfaith’s Amazon Wish List: amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3EEU4H98V7VI6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_UlQbCbCFKDFS2. You can learn about volunteering and other ways to donate at interfaithsanctuary.org/ways-your-group-can-help/
Donate to Boise Rescue Mission: boiserm.org/donate/give-now-2. You can also donate by purchasing items on the Rescue Mission’s Amazon Wish List and its Walmart wish lists at boiserm.org/donate/current-needs.
Donate to the Salvation Army: The Boise location accepts financial donations at boise.salvationarmy.org. To donate to the Nampa Salvation Army, visit nampa.salvationarmy.org. To donate to the Caldwell Salvation Army, visit caldwell.salvationarmy.org.
Donate to Corpus Christi House: corpuschristiboise.org/donate
Donate to Leap Housing: leaphousing.org/donate. Leap develops and preserves affordable housing. You can donate money or land.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 12:51 PM.
