‘Golden’ tower purchased to preserve senior housing

A nonprofit in the Treasure Valley has made a purchase to help seniors maintain their housing.

Boise-based LEAP Housing has purchased a longtime senior housing facility in Nampa known as the Golden Glow Tower, which is home to 66 residents.

LEAP’s goal is to “develop and preserve affordable housing, while providing empowering services that lead to greater housing stability,” the organization’s website stated.

The facility, located at 1108 7th Street, was built by Nampa First Christian Church in 1969. Nampa Christian Housing operated Golden Glow Tower for more than 50 years, providing unsubsidized senior housing to residents with incomes as low as $6,000 per year, charging rent as low as $152 per month. The building was built under the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 202 program.

“Using vouchers to preserve housing that would otherwise be unaffordable is one of our key tenets,” said Richard Monocchio, principal deputy assistant secretary for HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing on a recent tour of the tower. “As a nation, we are millions of apartments and homes short; we need to house our existing population, so to have a building like this remain affordable is key.”

Monocchio added that preserving affordable housing is as important as creating new residential units.

Nampa Christian Housing stated that it had many offers from several different potential buyers, “but all offers from for-profit companies had no guarantees of long-term affordability. Any kind of monthly increase could ultimately displace the current residents.”

With the purchase by LEAP, an organization NCH maintains has a history which aligns with its own, the current residents will be able to remain in their homes with manageable rents.

“Residents of (Golden Glow Tower) have lived for the last 50 years in what could be the lowest unsubsidized senior rental units in the United States, with rents as low as $152 a month, including utilities,” said Bart Cochran, chief executive officer of LEAP. “These seniors are more than neighbors, they are family, and that’s why we are honored to preserve this building and keep occupants safe.”

LEAP is in the process of securing $1 million in donations to make necessary improvements to the facility and has already begun receiving charitable contributions from organizations such as Thorne Printing, Saint Alphonsus, St. Luke’s, Select Heath, Larry and Marianne Williams Foundation and members like Kennedy Wilson.

“We know that senior renters in Nampa already have few options when seeking housing that is affordable and suitable to their needs and income,” said Rebecca Lemmons, director of community health and well-being for Saint Alphonsus Health System. “We need to find a solution for our neighbors to stay in their homes, not add to the number of people facing homelessness.”