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Tag: Homeless

Interfaith Sanctuary plans major expansion

Boise Interfaith Sanctuary
Rendering provided by Interfaith Sanctuary.

After almost two years of effort securing a Conditional Use Permit, Interfaith Sanctuary was given the green light to begin construction at the old Salvation Army building.

The homeless shelter will celebrate with a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, April 18 at 10 a.m, at 4308 W. State St.

The project will take 12 to 15 months to complete and will grow from the current 30,000 square feet to 42,500 square feet with the addition of a complete second story for the family shelter building. The new shelter will include a medical dorm and hospice rooms for visitors in need of increased medical care. There will be 20 private rooms in a second building disconnected from the campus, but on the same property.

“The most important thing about this building, which is different from emergency shelters, is that anyone who’s staying at that shelter can stay day and night,” Executive Director of Interfaith Sanctuary Jodi Peterson-Stigers, said. “It doesn’t require you to check in at 5 p.m. and leave at 7 a.m. and then figure it out all day long. This building is big enough to allow all the guests to utilize the classrooms, the programming, and a dining room that can accommodate everyone…”

The upgraded shelter will include a family dining room, a single adult dining room, a day shelter for adults that has supportive services, and case management computers. It will also include a back property that allows visitors to be outside, but safe and secure, where they can’t be preyed on if they are part of a vulnerable population, Peterson-Stigers added.

Rendering provided by Interfaith Sanctuary.

“That’s the magic of this space, is giving someone a space day and night, which is the key to really improving outcomes because you’re taking all the trauma away,” she said. “It reduces the amount of negative energy you receive as a homeless person on a daily basis.”

As well as providing a safer setting for families, children and senior citizens, the new shelter location will provide more opportunities to create a meaningful experience for guests, through classrooms dedicated to recovery, mental health, art therapy, food service training and Micron workforce training. 

Interfaith Sanctuary invited members of the community to help support the project through Build HOPE, “People can buy bricks and engrave them with names or sayings to help us raise the funds for what has turned into a pretty expensive project,” she added. According to Interfaith Sanctuary: 

The main building (to house single men and women) and will include:

  • Medical Dorm with 18 beds and 2 hospice rooms 
  • Exam room and nursing station supported through a partnership with Terry Reilly Health Services and Full Circle Health
  • Mens and Women’s sleeping pods that will include single beds, storage and nightstands:
    • Men 24 singles 
    • Women 6 singles
  • Emergency shelter beds for urgent night by night need:
    • Mens 7 Bunks
    • Womens 10 bunks
  • Classrooms 
  • A full service commercial kitchen with sit down dining area and home to a Food Service Training Program
  • Day Shelter with computer library, lounge area and access to the outdoor park and recreation area
  • Guests will have 24/7 access to shelter and campus 
  • The safe outdoor setting on the backside of this property allows guests privacy as they work their way out of homelessness. 
  • Laundry facilities
  • Mail Room
  • Deescalation Room

The adjacent 2-story building will include the Family Housing Program. 

The family rooms will include:

  • Beds for up to 100 family members plus cribs for babies
  • Family privacy suites to accommodate whole family units
  • A full time preschool classroom/ children’s indoor play and activity area
  • Family dining area/lounge
  • Teen computer and activity room/lounge
  • Laundry facilities
  • Case Management Offices
  • Storage for donation items
  • 20 private rooms that offer doors with locks so guests are able to have a sense of independence and are able to keep their possessions safely stored.

Men’s and Women’s outdoor offerings:

  • Bike Storage (100+ bikes)
  • Lockers for guest’s possessions
  • A landscaped park with benches, trees and a zen garden 
  • A community garden 
  • Outside dining space
  • A safe, secure and private space

Family side outdoor offerings (separated from the adult population with a fence to provide privacy for families):

  • Children’s playground
  • Outdoor dining area
  • Green space for outdoor activities
  • Family community garden
  • Dedicated play area
  • Stroller and bike storage( located on the front side of family building)

 

October start planned on Boise’s first housing for the chronically homeless

New Path Community Housing will be for the chronically homeless but the look is indistinguishable from market-rate apartments. Image courtesy of erstad ARCHITECTS.
New Path Community Housing will be intended for the chronically homeless. The look of the building is intended to be indistinguishable from that of market-rate apartments. Image courtesy of erstad ARCHITECTS.

Once environmental work is completed on the site of the former Twin Dragon restaurant, construction is expected to start in October on Boise’s first subsidized housing for the chronically homeless population.

The 41-unit New Path Community Housing will be located at the northwest corner of Fairview Avenue and 22nd Street in an area the city of Boise has branded as the West End. Planners and others have described the area as a new extension of downtown.

The housing project should be ready by the end of 2018, and it’s expected to get about one-third of the identified chronically homeless in Boise off the streets, said Tom Mannschreck, CEO of Thomas Development Co., a New Path development partner.

The same development team will build the nearby 166-unit Adare Manor affordable housing complex.

New Path and Adare Manor are part of a much grander redevelopment plan for the Fairway and Main Street corridor between 22nd  Street and Whitewater Park Boulevard (formerly 30th Street).

Revitalization started in early 2015 with the 30th and Main oral surgery center. In the same area, there are plans for a College of Western Idaho Boise campus, the 223-unit Whitewater Project apartments and a 230,000-square-foot  St. Luke’s Health System facility that may specialize in orthopedics.

New Path Community Housing is a program based on the “Housing First” model; an approach to homelessness that puts a priority on providing permanent housing and includes mental and medical health professionals to tackle some of the problems that lead to homelessness. The New Path development will be the first in Boise and the first in Idaho, according to several partners that are working on the project.

The apartment comes out of an announcement in February 2016 from the local Roundtable on Housing and Homelessness that it would launch a Housing First program. The Roundtable offered a $6.8 million incentive for developers to propose a housing project for 25 to 30 chronically homeless people.

The most active players in Housing First are the city of Boise, Ada County, Idaho Housing and Finance Association, or IHFA; Boise City/Ada County Housing Authority; St. Luke’s and Saint Alphonsus health systems; Terry Reilly Health Services and Charitable Assistance To Community’s Homeless, or CATCH.

Diana Lachiondo
Diana Lachiondo

“Evidence has shown that helping people in great need saves money,” said Diana Lachiondo, the city’s director of community partnerships. “We are not the first community to try this. We are really interested in solutions that work.”

The team that will build New Path is Boise Pacific NIHC, a joint venture of three local developers who have previously collaborated in building and operating affordable housing projects: Northwest Integrity Housing Company and TPC Holdings V LLC with general partners Thomas Development Co. and Caleb Roope, CEO of The Pacific Companies. Tomlinson & Associates will manage the property.

“It will be a very visible sign of redevelopment of a part of town that has been vacated and underutilized for very many years,” Mannschreck said about New Path and Adare Manor.

New Path will offer only one-bedroom apartments. The Boise City/Ada County Housing Authority in March assigned 40 Section 8 housing vouchers to New Path to supplement what tenants can pay.

The city of Boise supplied $1 million toward construction and IHFA provided a $5.8 million federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit. Mannschreck declined to reveal total construction costs.

The design of New Path is indistinguishable from that of mainstream apartments, said Mannschreck.

The project architects are erstad ARCHITECTS of Boise and DG Architecture of Eagle. The general contractor is Pacific West Builders, part of the Pacific Companies.

New Path will have built-in clinic and counseling facilities with in-house case management teams of medical and mental health providers.

“Housing First doesn’t mean housing only,” Lachiondo said. “It means housing plus intensive support services. At the end of the day, it is about ending and reducing homelessness.”

Lachiondo said Boise has about 120 chronically homeless people, defined as a person with a disabling condition who has been homeless for more than a year or has had four homeless episodes. She said a Boise State University analysis determined that a chronically homeless person costs $53,000 a year per person, primarily for emergency room and jail costs.

Note: This story was updated at 9:40 a.m. on Sept. 7 with the Twin Dragon restaurant being demolished.

Section 8 housing vouchers assigned to Boise apartments for the homeless

The 41-unit New Path Community Housing will be Boise's first apartment structure specifically for the chronically homeless. Image courtesy of Thomas Development.
The 41-unit New Path Community Housing will be Boise’s first apartment structure specifically for the chronically homeless. Image courtesy of Thomas Development.

The Boise City/Ada County Housing Authority has assigned 40 Section 8 housing vouchers to Boise’s first apartment complex for the chronically homeless. The apartment project is scheduled to be built at the southeast corner of Fairview Avenue and 24th Street in the city’s West End.

This marks the first time the housing authority has designated project-based vouchers rather than the standard tenant-based Section 8 vouchers issued to low-income individuals to subsidize housing costs. The 40 project-based vouchers were subtracted from the total 2,000 Section 8 vouchers allocated to the local housing authority, said Jillian Patterson, the authority’s housing program director.

“These vouchers will serve people who are chronically homeless,” Patterson said.

These vouchers will be assigned to the New Path Beginnings apartments to subsidize tenant rent payments rather than being acquired by and submitted by tenants, Patterson said.

For New Path Beginnings, this supplies guaranteed income rather than relying on tenants securing Section 8 vouchers.

“The majority of the income will be based on project-based vouchers,” said Tom Mannschreck, a general partner in the New Path Beginnings project. “By partnering with Boise and Ada County, we have a source of income to provide maintenance and capital improvements. (This housing) has the same level of operating expenses as any other project.”

The project-based vouches will bridge the gap between the rent and the dollar amount a tenant is able to pay. The housing authority acknowledged the homeless tenants likely will have less reliable sources of money than other low-income people.

Deanna Watson
Deanna Watson

“What we pay for those vouchers is going to be higher than what we pay under the tenant-based program,” said Deanna Watson, the housing authority’s executive director

The project-based vouchers and the apartments dedicated to the chronically homeless are both outgrowths of the community’s Housing First program announced in February 2016. At the same time, Housing First issued a request for proposals for a single-site housing project “uniquely designed to serve and support the target population.” The Housing First partners include Idaho Housing and Finance Association, the City of Boise, Ada County, St. Luke’s Health System, Saint Alphonsus Health System and The Home Partnership Foundation.

Housing First selected Boise Pacific NIHC Associates to build a four-story, 41-unit New Path Beginnings complex that will also include largely on-site support service such as health care, mental health counseling, case management, substance use treatment and financial counseling. One unit is for use as a manager’s residence.

Boise Pacific NIHC was the only respondent to the housing authority’s request for proposals to become a recipient of project-based housing vouchers.

Caleb Roope
Caleb Roope

Boise Pacific NIHC is a joint venture of three local developers who have previously collaborated in building and operating affordable housing projects: Northwest Integrity Housing Company and TPC Holdings V LLC with general partners Mannschreck, CEO of the Thomas Development Co., and Caleb Roope, CEO of The Pacific Companies.

Earlier in March, the Boise City Council rezoned the Fairview/22nd Street property for multi-family housing and Mannschreck expects to submit designs to the city’s Design Review Committee in April.

“We should be out of the ground in the fourth quarter,” Mannschreck said.

He anticipates opening New Path Beginnings late in the third quarter of 2018.

Housing for the homeless is on the way in Boise’s West End

A four-story apartment complex specifically for the chronically homeless will be built at Fairview and 23rd Street in Boise. Image courtesy of erstad Architects.
A four-story apartment complex specifically for the chronically homeless will be built at Fairview and 23rd Street in Boise. Image courtesy of erstad Architects.

A development team has been selected to build Boise’s first apartment complex for the chronically homeless at the corner of Fairview Avenue and 23rd Street in the city’s West End.

The public-private Housing First partnership selected Boise Pacific NIHC Associates to build the $7.33 million, four-story, 41-unit complex that will also include largely on-site support service such as health care, mental health counseling, case management, substance use treatment and financial counseling.

Boise Pacific NIHC is a joint venture of three Boise-area developers who have previously collaborated in building and operating affordable housing projects: Northwest Integrity Housing Company and TPC Holdings V LLC with general partners Thomas Mannschreck, CEO of the Thomas Development Co., and Caleb Roope, CEO of The Pacific Companies.

Mannschreck anticipates starting construction next fall, with an opening date in fall 2018. DG Group Architecture of Eagle and erstad Architects are the architects and Pacific West Builders of Eagle is the general contractor.

Construction is funded by a $5.83 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits awarded by Idaho Housing and Finance Association; $500,000 in HOME funds from IHFA; and $1 million from the city of Boise.

Support services will be funded with $500,000 in the first year supplied by Ada County ($250,000), St. Luke’s Health System ($100,000), Saint Alphonsus Health System ($100,000), United Way of Treasure Valley ($25,000) and the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation ($25,000).

Housing First had issued a request for proposals Feb. 8 for a single-site housing project “uniquely designed to serve and support the target population.” The Housing First partners include Idaho Housing and Finance Association, the City of Boise, Ada County, St. Luke’s Health System, Saint Alphonsus Health System and The Home Partnership Foundation. Housing First is the outgrowth of two years of discussions by the Roundtable on Housing and Homelessness established by Mayor David Bieter.

Wyatt Schroeder
Wyatt Schroeder

Ada County is negotiating a contract with Terry Reilly Health Services, which would partner with Charitable Assistance to Community’s Homeless (CATCH) to provide support services. CATCH would be the liaison between the tenants and housing management.

“This is an absolutely great start providing 41 units for our most vulnerable citizens,” said Wyatt Schroeder, CATCH’s executive director.

This Housing First project could house about one-third of the 125 unsheltered homeless people in Ada County identified in the annual point in time count across the nation that stems from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care Program.

Boise seeks to build housing for the chronically homeless

Roundtable on Housing and Homelessness members Wyatt Schroeder, AnaMarie Guiles, Mayor David Bieter, Gerald Hunter, Deanna Watson, TJ Thomson and Heidi Traylor announced a Housing First program to build housing for the chronically homeless. Photo by Teya Vitu.
Roundtable on Housing and Homelessness members Wyatt Schroeder, AnaMarie Guiles, Mayor David Bieter, Gerald Hunter, Deanna Watson, TJ Thomson and Heidi Traylor announced a Housing First program to build housing for the chronically homeless. Photo by Teya Vitu.

Non-profit housing developers are being asked to come up with ideas to build a housing complex to serve as a home for 25 to 30 chronically homeless people in Boise.

The city of Boise and Idaho Housing and Finance Association issued a request for proposals Feb. 9. The two entities are offering $6.5 million in tax credits for a single-site housing project “uniquely designed to serve and support the target population.”

The city and other members of the Roundtable on Housing and Homelessness jointly announced the Housing First program Feb. 9. Housing First reflects a growing approach nationally to place homeless people in housing without first requiring them to enter into supportive treatment programs.

The roundtable has met for about a year, headed by Mayor David Bieter and the IHFA, with 40 members from the community’s non-profit and corporate sectors. Members include Charitable Assistance to Community’s Homeless or CATCH and several levels of government.

The Housing First RFP offers  developers a low income housing tax credit worth about $5.5 million and up to $1 million from the city of Boise for land acquisition and new construction costs. This could conceivably cover the full cost of building a $5 million-to-$6 million complex, IHFA Executive Director Gerald Hunter said.

A letter of interest to file an RFP must be submitted to IHFA by March 10. The ultimate deadline to submit a proposal is Sept. 2.

Gerald Hunter
Gerald Hunter

The RFP does not spell out how many apartment units must be proposed, but the roundtable seeks to create housing for 40 chronically homeless people using “single-site” housing such as the RFP describes and a “scattered site” project. Hunter believes the “single site” request should result in about 25 to 30 units.

The “scattered site” project will offer the chronically homeless five of the 300 low-income homes the city of Boise owns and five of the 430 low-income homes the Boise City/Ada County Housing Authority owns. Authority Executive Director Deanna Watson hopes to build that stock with private apartment owners offering units to the homeless, as is done in partnerships in other cities.

“The idea is to provide rental assistance at a level people need to stabilize their lives,” Watson said.

Bieter said Ada County has about 100 chronically homeless individuals, based on the 2015 Boise City/Ada County  annual point-in-time count of the homeless.

Deanna Watson
Deanna Watson

Building homes for the chronically homeless is more cost-effective than the judicial approach now taken, Bieter said.

“Those 100 people cost us $5.3 million (a year) in medical, criminal justice and interaction with police,” Bieter said.

The city’s Housing First program mirrors the national Pathways to Housing, founded in 1992 under the concept of placing the homeless in housing without conditions and then providing supportive treatment services. Pathways, which uses the terms Housing First and “scattered sites,” has programs in Washington, D.C, Pennsylvania and Vermont and provides training and technical assistance to dozens of agencies in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including Utah.

Boise’s Housing First is not affiliated with Pathways, but Bieter did refer to Utah’s work and mentioned that the practice of finding housing first for the homeless is “evidence based.”

“The best alternative for the homeless is getting someone in a clean, safe place first,” Bieter said. “Then you can go about providing some of the services that go to the root causes of homelessness.”