Boise neighborhood may not want Interfaith’s shelter, but it has benefits for homeless
If Interfaith Sanctuary moves its homeless shelter, it would leave a concrete jungle on a dead-end street flanked by the Interstate 184 Connector and join a real neighborhood on West State Street.
Shelter guests would be part of the Veterans Park Neighborhood and within walking distance of Willow Lane and Veterans Memorial parks. Flying Pie Pizzeria and Corona Village Mexican Restaurant are next door. Burger N’ Brew and the Human Bean coffee shop are across the street. Valor Pointe, a 27-apartment building for homeless veterans, is next to Human Bean.
“This location will allow them to be in proximity — without a lot of distress — to get to a grocery store or a drugstore or to their bank,” Jodi Peterson-Stigers, Interfaith Sanctuary’s executive director, said by phone. “They’ll be able to access the main bus line or the Greenbelt, for those who ride their bikes to where they need to go.”
Albertsons, Veterans Memorial Park and Ewing Animal Hospital are less than a mile east. The Albertsons store also has a pharmacy.
The Boise City Council on Monday approved a conditional use permit to expand the former Salvation Army thrift store and social services building at 4308 W. State St.
The action, which allows the shelter to have 205 beds, overturned a February decision by the Planning and Zoning Commission to deny the permit. The current shelter on River Street has room for about 140 people.
More homeless people amid growth, costlier housing
The move to State Street would give Interfaith Sanctuary the ability to serve more people experiencing homelessness as Boise grows and its housing costs soar. It would provide better accommodations based on modern shelter design, and it would end the situation where guests come in for the night and then are sent out on the streets the next morning until they’re allowed to return to sleep, Peterson-Stigers said. Guests would be able to stay inside and go outside when they want.
The shelter would have separate areas for individuals and families with children. There would be outdoor areas where people could sit and read or talk, along with a covered bike barn.
But residents of the hundreds of houses in nearby blocks mostly resisted Interfaith’s proposal. During months of hearings before the council and the planning commission, neighbors raised a host of objections. They included worries about public encampments and defecation, increased traffic and possible crashes on State Street, an added burden on the bus system, and added noise from people and from police, fire and ambulance sirens.
At Monday’s meeting, Doug Drinka, president of the Collister Neighborhood Association, said he would have preferred the city split the 250 beds Interfaith Sanctuary wanted for permanent beds and overflow emergencies among five shelters spread throughout Boise.
“I think that would be a great fit for our neighborhood. And I think we could really rally behind that,” Drinka said.
Neighbors worry about alcohol, drug abuse
Katy Decker, president of the Veterans Park Neighborhood Association, said she was concerned about the admittance to the shelter of people with substance-abuse problems who aren’t undergoing treatment.
“There is a perception that it will increase the attraction of people who are not ready to seek treatment in their journeys to combat bad trauma, and who will be using illegal substances outside the shelter premises,” Decker told the council.
To stop the project, opponents would have to go to Ada County District Court and seek an injunction. Both sides said before the council decision they planned to go to court if their side lost. Meanwhile, with the permit, Interfaith Sanctuary can proceed with the project.
Its next step is the Boise Design Review Committee. Peterson-Stigers said it could take three months or more for that to happen. Remodeling and expansion of the building is expected to take about nine months.
When Interfaith first began looking at the site, where the Salvation Army operated from 1980 to 2019, access to nearby shops and service providers was a key requirement, she said.
“This location has it all,” she said.
The current shelter at 1620 W. River St., in contrast, isn’t people-friendly, Peterson-Stigers said.
“If you want to go an victimize a homeless person, you know exactly where to go,” she said. “Whether you’re sheltered or unsheltered, that’s your place to be, and so all the people who are working on their programming and doing recovery and this and that, you still end up in the Cooper Court alley.”
Seven years ago, the alley became home for dozens of homeless people who set up tents and makeshift shelters and said they preferred staying there than in shelters. Boise police eventually came in and dismantled the camp, displacing its residents.
The new shelter would offer an early education program for children who have not started school. And CATCH, a social service agency that helps Ada and Canyon county families with children get back on their feet, would have a satellite office there.
Less time spent on streets, in emergency rooms
The shelter would also contain a medical clinic operated by Family Medical Residency of Idaho and Terry Reilly Health Services. They already provide shelter guests with medical services at clinics, but would allow doctors to treat patients where they live. The clinic would also relieve dependence upon hospital emergency rooms, she said.
“When you have no place to be all day, the hospitals end up being a primary care provider,” Peterson-Stigers said. “We want to eliminate that. By allowing them to be inside day and night, it eliminates that need to be out on the streets all day and rely on the emergency room.”
“To us, this has always been a no-brainer, but it’s easy to understand where the fear and the kind of opposition it had comes from,” she said. “We worked hard to let people know this is a 24/7 shelter. It’s not a warehouse where you have 200 people leave every morning and fall into your neighborhood.
“This is housing. It’s free housing.”
Peterson-Stigers credits Boise land-use attorney Geoff Wardle for helping Interfaith obtain the conditional use permit. Wardle, a second-generation shelter volunteer and donor, offered his expertise for free.
“We wouldn’t have known how to navigate this, and he knows the law,” she said. “We can tell you all about why we do what we do, but we can’t defend real estate law or planning and zoning. He was vital.”
At Monday’s hearing, Wardle, who grew up in the neighborhood and whose grandparents managed a trailer park in the Veterans Park neighborhood, told the council why Interfaith should be granted the permit and why its operation shouldn’t be considered an undue burden on neighbors.
Peterson-Stigers said she hopes to build bridges with neighbors who opposed the State Street location. She believes a ”good neighbor” agreement — an agreement that spells out guidelines for the shelter, neighbors, neighborhood associations businesses — will help bring unity and understanding to help the shelter operate successfully.
“I think the Good Neighbor agreement is a great launching pad for starting to meet with the business and the neighborhood association to find a way to work together to really give it a chance to be a success and safe for everyone,” she said.
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
CORRECTION: The shelter would be located in the Veterans Park Neighborhood. The name of the neighborhood was corrected on April 29, 2022.
