Construction begins on Valor Pointe apartments

Homeless veterans will have a better chance to get back on their feet thanks to a 27-unit apartment complex planned for the corner of State and Fargo streets.

A groundbreaking ceremony to herald the start of work on the $6.2 million Valor Pointe project was held July 22, with business and civic leaders and development partners in attendance to turn the ceremonial dirt at the site.

The developer of Valor Pointe is Northwest Real Estate Capital Corp. The project design is by CSHQA, Inc. and the general contractor is CSDI Construction, Inc.

Funding for the four-story structure primarily comes through low-income housing tax credits awarded by the Idaho Housing and Finance Association. Other financing partners include Boise City/Ada County Housing Authorities, the City of Boise, the HOME Partnership Foundation, Micron, US Bank, The Julius C. Jeker Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Albertsons, the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation and Boise Cascade.

“I could not be prouder and more grateful to our community partners who committed to addressing such a complex problem for our most vulnerable veterans,” said Boise Mayor Dave Bieter, who co-hosted the event with Idaho Housing and Finance Association.

Valor Pointe is the second such project in Boise focused on helping homeless citizens. It’s similar to New Path Community Housing, the 40-bed Housing First project that recently opened off Fairview Avenue to assist the chronically homeless.

Like New Path, Valor Pointe will be more than just a warm place to live. It will also offer resources to help residents with a variety of issues, such as health care, mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment to eligible veterans by the Boise VA Medical Center.

“IHFA is excited to be a part of this community effort to provide safe and stable housing to some of our state’s veterans,” said Gerald Hunter, president of Idaho Housing and Finance Association. “This is a major step in bringing community resources together to build something we believe will help heal and restore the lives of many veterans experiencing homelessness.”

Northwest Real Estate Capital Corp., an Idaho-based tax-exempt affordable housing developer, joined the partnership after it was selected to build the project through a request for proposals process.

Located at 4203 West State St., Valor Pointe will include 27 one-bedroom, one-bathroom units, 26 for veterans and one for a live-in manager. Two of the units will be fully accessible to residents with disabilities, and the rest will be adaptable, ensuring they can be easily modified to become accessible for occupants with disabilities or mobility challenges. Additional building amenities include an open floor plan with a private balcony/patio, community lounge, classroom, computer lab, onsite laundry, fitness room and a therapeutic garden.

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, approximately 11% of the adult population experiencing homelessness are veterans, and Ada County exceeds the national average with 14% of its population experiencing homelessness counted as veterans.

City and county housing authorities will provide vouchers to Valor Pointe residents for rental assistance.