Faith leaders: Idaho Legislature could shut down homeless shelters. It’s immoral | Opinion

One of the strands that unite our diverse faith traditions is the ritual of fasting. Indeed in this very season, Islamic communities are celebrating the month of Ramadan, Christians are observing Lent and Jews are preparing for Passover — all of which prominently feature some version of this ancient practice.

We fast to remind ourselves that the true measure of any society is how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.

As the prophet Isaiah challenged his listeners almost 3,000 years ago: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loosen the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every chain? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and to bring the homeless poor into your house?”

Alas, our state Legislature is failing Isaiah’s test.

In a time marked by deep economic uncertainty and a serious shortage of affordable housing, they have put forward two bills — SB 1141 and SB 1166 — that callously leave Boise’s unhoused citizens with no place to go. The former criminalizes camping on our city streets, while the latter prohibits the building or expansion of any shelter within three hundred feet of a residential zone. It is cruelly designed to shut down Interfaith Sanctuary, our city’s only non-sectarian, low-barrier shelter.

Taken together, these two pieces of bad legislation effectively tell the homeless they can’t sleep outside — and we won’t shelter you inside. This message — “there’s no room at the inn” — is both immoral and unwise. It is well worth noting that criminalizing homelessness doesn’t solve the problem. It makes it worse.

When our communities are free to focus on shelter and supportive services, they spend less on emergency healthcare, policing and incarceration. Investing in caring for the unhoused is not just compassionate — it’s fiscally responsible.

Time and again, our state Legislature decries federal mandates as big government overreach. Yet here, they are doing to the city exactly what they long complained about as a limitation of freedom.

If SB1166 were to pass, any church, synagogue, mosque or other faith community in a residential zone would be banned from providing shelter to the hungry and homeless. This is bad policy when those services are dearly needed.

It is also a gross denial of religious freedom, as SB 1166 doesn’t just limit Boise’s ability to help the homeless — it actively interferes with the ability of faith communities to practice what they preach. By prohibiting shelters in our neighborhoods, the state is preventing places of worship from following our sacred calling to care for those in need.

Many of our faith communities were involved in the founding of Interfaith Sanctuary two decades ago. We came together to create emergency shelter because people were freezing to death in the streets of our city. Before we built our first facility, we housed our guests in our own congregations, because this is what our prophets, like Isaiah, ask of us.

Thankfully, Interfaith has grown into a full-service organization that extends services far beyond a clean bed and hot cup of soup. We provide skills, healthcare and the supportive community that people need to get back on their feet. This is beneficial to both our guests and our entire city and state. It’s good policy — and it’s the right thing to do.

We urge all concerned Idahoans to contact your legislators immediately and urge them to reject SB 1141 and 1166.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Dan Fink

Professor Joe Bankard

Pastor Buddy Gharring, Hillview United Methodist Church

Pete Schroeder, director of local missions, Cathedral of the Rockies

Rev. Duane A. Anders, Cathedral of the Rockies, Boise First United Methodist Church

Rev. Ed Keener

Rev. Jenny Willison Hirst, outreach minister, Collister United Methodist Church

Debbie Mallis, Interfaith Equality Coalition

Rev. Bruce D. Ervin, retired pastor, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Rev. Tracia Deal, senior minister, Red Rock Christian Church

Rev. Andrew Kukla, First Presbyterian Church, Boise

Rev. Josh Lee, Boise First United Church of Christ

Jim Sonnenburg, connection pastor, True Hope Church Downtown

Rev. Brenda Sene, Rupert United Methodist Church

Rev. Steven Tollefson, pastor emeritus, Cathedral of the Rockies

Rev. Adam Briddell, Amity Campus pastor, Cathedral of the Rockies