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Tag: Housing First

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.