Homeless shelter, housing project shows success in one city. Why Boise won’t consider it
A homeless shelter in a giant tent in Reno has proved successful in getting almost 500 homeless people off the streets since 2021.
But the city of Boise said it does not intend to copy the Reno model here. Instead, City Hall plans to focus more of its efforts to curb homelessness on permanent affordable housing.
The Nevada city teamed up with Washoe County to build a 600-bed tent and multiple independent sleeping pods by using federal COVID-19 emergency funds, according to The Wall Street Journal. The project helped reduce the number of people living on the street to 329 in 2023 from 780 in 2022, the WSJ reported.
That compares with 687 unhoused people in Ada County in January 2023, according to the Ada County Point In Time count, an annual survey that attempts to count the number of people living on the street and in homeless shelters or transitional housing.
The Ada County count showed that 115 of those 687 were unsheltered. The actual number is likely higher. The survey’s counts are believed to be low, since each count can easily miss people who cannot be found in known camping or parking spaces, or who may be sleeping on someone’s couch, on the survey day.
Boise critical of Reno model’s cost, ‘mixed results’
Reno and Boise have similarly sized populations. Reno has 269,000 residents while Boise has nearly 237,500.
Washoe County, which includes the city of Reno, reported that its unsheltered population has decreased by 58% since the Nevada Cares Campus opened in 2021. Meanwhile, Ada County’s unsheltered population has increased by 88.5% since 2019, according to the Point In Time count.
But Jill Youmans, communications manager for the city of Boise, said in response to an Idaho Statesman inquiry that “this particular type of shelter encampment is expensive, does not (or does not always) provide plumbing/electricity and has mixed results regarding effectiveness.”
“Although emergency shelter is critical to respond to the night-by-night crisis of homelessness, the city is focusing most of its resources on permanent housing while also helping fund shelter, coordinated entry, homeless prevention, and outreach,” Youmans said in an email.
According to Washoe County, the Nevada Cares Campus offers basic hygienic services including temporary restrooms, sinks, showers, and laundry.
The WSJ reported that when the campus first opened, it did lack the necessary number of restrooms and showers and was understaffed. But since then, staffing levels have grown and additional restrooms added, the Washoe County assistant county manager told the newspaper.
Reporting from the Reno Gazette Journal shows the campus provides many unhoused people with the flexibility they need. One guest, Dennis Eaton, told the newspaper that he could not stay in the group shelter because he is immune-compromised, but the adjoining Safe Camp provided the private space he needed in an independent sleeping pod.
The shelter and sleeping-pod camp cost the county $17 million, but the WSJ reported that at full build-out the campus would cost $80 million, which the county plans to cover with donations and federal funds.
‘Our goal first and foremost is housing’
Boise’s two homeless shelters, Interfaith Sanctuary and the larger Boise Rescue Mission, have 722 emergency shelter beds between them. There were just 469 people staying in them during 2023’s Point-In-Time Count.
The Statesman reported in winter 2022 that Interfaith Sanctuary was at full capacity while the Boise Rescue Mission had 180 of its 500 beds available.
Interfaith Sanctuary is Boise’s only shelter that does not require guests to remain sober and drug free as Boise Rescue Mission does. Interfaith can accommodate only about 150 people overnight, according to previous Statesman reporting.
There are many reasons why some unhoused people prefer to stay out of shelters, said Connor O’Hora, outreach program specialist for CATCH, or Charitable Assistance to Community’s Homeless, a nonprofit that works to house people experiencing homelessness in Ada and Canyon counties, in an interview with the Statesman.
Some people have mental-health problems that make staying in shelters stressful and challenging, and others who are new to homelessness may feel more comfortable sleeping in their cars, O’Hora said.
“For people who have had traumatic experiences in or out of shelter, those (places) are not the most inviting environments, and they can be really difficult to be in,” O’Hora said.
Plans are already under way to boost Boise’s capacity to shelter people experiencing homelessness. Interfaith is preparing to build a new, larger shelter at 4308 W. State Street to replace its shelter at 1620 W. River Street. The Rescue Mission is preparing to open a building near Curtis and Overland Roads to help people transition from its shelters to independent living.
Boise’s shortage of affordable housing has made it harder for unhoused people to find residences. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Boise is $1,062, and for a two-bedroom $1,224, according to Apartment List. Those rents are out of reach for Ada County’s poorest.
“Our goal first and foremost is housing,” Youmans said. “Every dollar given to these temporary shelters would be funds pulled from permanent homes.”
The city wants to build 1,250 homes for people earning 60% or below area median income, which is $31,680 a year for a single person or $40,680 for a family of three. But even those will do little for people experiencing homelessness, since they typically make far less than that.
The government deems the affordable rent for a single person earning half of those amounts, or 30% of the area median income, to be $469 a month. For a family of three, it’s $603.
Youmans said the city is helping to fund 1,190 “low-income permanent homes in Boise.”
The city also hopes to increase the number of government-subsidized apartments that provide permanent supportive housing, which is a federal definition for permanent housing rentals with supportive services at the same location. These services aim to assist people who have struggled with chronic homelessness.
Boise there are two permanent supportive-housing buildings: New Path, located at 2200 W. Fairview Ave., and Valor Pointe, which serves previously homeless veterans at 4203 W. State St. Plans are in the works to expand New Path and to build another apartment building for people with debilitating conditions on the site of a former city fire station next to Rhodes Skate Park at 16th Street and the I-184 Connector downtown.
This story was originally published January 8, 2024 at 4:00 AM.
