Interfaith’s new Boise shelter just opened, and it’s full. No more walk-ins

Interfaith Sanctuary has moved to its new Boise shelter, offering a new suite of full-time services for residents — but also a new slate of rules.

Over the past week the nonprofit shelter has shuttered both its River Street location and operation within the Red Lion Hotel Boise Downtowner in order to fully move into a 42,000-square-foot, 205-bed center at 4306 W. State St. Guests inside will be able to stay at the home 24/7, rather than leaving during daytime hours as in the past. But people experiencing homelessness who need a bed will have to follow new procedures to get a berth.

The conditions of Interfaith’s agreement with the city of Boise no longer allow people to line up outside the building or accommodate new intakes after 5 p.m., said Jodi Peterson-Stigers, Interfaith Sanctuary’s executive director.

The line-up was protocol for roughly two decades at Interfaith’s old warehouse-turned-shelter, where unhoused residents would queue starting at 4:30 p.m. for first-come, first-served overnight admittance.

The new rules also don’t allow Interfaith to provide services to anyone who did not stay in the shelter the night before, so unless you’re already a resident, you can’t access the building during the day.

Taken together, that means that Interfaith can’t operate as an emergency shelter, taking walk-ins or people in crisis.

“I hope that evolves, once they see that we’re good neighbors,” Peterson-Stigers said in an interview. “In order to stay open and operating, we need to follow these conditions, because we’re going to be scrutinized very closely night now.”

Intake requires that people who are homeless use an online form through FindHelpIdaho.org, a United Way clearinghouse for free and reduced-cost services. Anyone interested must answer a few questions to get on the waiting list. Interfaith uses software to assess the urgency of each person on that list, and then calls the most urgent for a screening interview when a bed opens up.

The waitlist is already growing: 57 individuals and 20 families were in line as of Thursday afternoon, Peterson-Stigers said.

“I’d tell anyone interested in getting a shelter bed to get on that waitlist,” she said.

In the meantime, emergency shelter is available. Corpus Commons operates during the day at 525 S. Americana Blvd. in Boise and can help with Interfaith’s new intake forms. And the Boise Rescue Mission Ministries operates three emergency overnight shelters, as well as a range of other options in Ada and Canyon Counties.

Those include:

• The River of Life Men’s Shelter at 575 S 13th St. in Boise. Available by phone at 208-389-9840.
• City Light Home for Women and Children at 1404 W. Jefferson St. in Boise. Available by phone at 208-368-9901.
• Valley Women and Children’s Shelter at 869 Corporate Lane in Nampa. Available by phone at 208-475-0724.

The Rescue Mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its current capacity, but its mission statement reiterates that no one will be turned away for lack of space.