BOISE — More than 280 people tuned-in Wednesday to a virtual neighborhood meeting on Interfaith Sanctuary’s proposed new shelter.
Interfaith Sanctuary — an emergency homeless shelter, currently located downtown — hopes to open a new, expanded facility along State Street, a heavily trafficked, commercial corridor, flanked by residential neighborhoods. Since the plans were announced last month, neighbors have coalesced to oppose the project, forming online chat groups and sharing a petition, which, as of Wednesday evening, has about 1,200 signatures.
Neighborly anxieties are numerous, ranging from the potential for crime to presaged property value dips sparked by the addition of a homeless shelter — “There goes the neighborhood,” some have said. During Wednesday’s meeting — a city requirement for new developments — an attendee asked Interfaith Sanctuary Executive Director Jodi Peterson-Stigers whether it might be more prudent, considering the strong opposition, to find a neighborhood more willing to accept the shelter. Another asked what amount of opposition it would take to nix the current plan.
“No neighborhood is … ready to welcome us with open arms,” Peterson-Stigers said. “This process is inevitable. Interfaith Sanctuary believes that this is the right place to do this project, and we believe that we will be good neighbors.”
Interfaith Sanctuary’s current location — which opened in 2008 at 1620 W. River St. — serves as an overnight homeless shelter for 140 single men and women. The new proposed location, a former Salvation Army food distribution center at 4308 W. State St., will allow the nonprofit to expand its capacity for single men and women to more than 276 as well as bring other housing services, for families and the medically fragile, under one roof.
In addition to its overnight emergency shelter, Interfaith Sanctuary partners with a hotel to house families and medically fragile people — those who are chronically ill and require medical assistance. The nonprofit also offers numerous programs, including counseling and substance-abuse recovery, work training, support groups and childcare and parenting classes. Those, too, will be housed in the new facility.
Interfaith Sanctuary hopes to purchase the former Salvation Army property, listed for $2.7 million, in the coming months.
One of the major concerns from neighbors is the number — nearly 300 people — of tenants the new shelter will have the capacity to house. Brad Gates, who lives about a block away from the proposed shelter, previously told the Idaho Press, that many people is “a massive hit, and I don’t think the neighborhood can handle it.”
Paul Geile, who owns a home on Willow Lane, told the Idaho Press he’s concerned Interfaith Sanctuary residents will cause problems in a nearby park, and he doesn’t trust the city to police the area. When asked where else the shelter could go, Geile suggested Interfaith Sanctuary’s housing and programs could be located separately, rather than in one facility.
Peterson-Stigers said running multiple locations is not financially feasible. That’s why the nonprofit is moving quickly on the new shelter: The novel coronavirus has spread its services thin. Interfaith Sanctuary currently is operating four different locations, including a hotel, to allow for safe distancing during the pandemic.
“Running four shelters is, logistically, really challenging and super expensive,” she said.
Other questions during Wednesday’s meeting related to the possibility of cars being abandoned in the area, how tenants are vetted and how neighboring businesses will be impacted.
Peterson-Stigers said the shelter will offer parking to registered vehicles, and the nonprofit is looking for another lot that can accommodate immobile vehicles, used by some for storage.
Some tenants have criminal records, including felonies, she said, but the shelter does not allow people convicted of sexual crimes. The shelter houses a few dozen children, she said.
As for the neighboring businesses, Peterson-Stigers said, Interfaith Sanctuary tenants are good for business. Many are employed, others are attached to social security and disability benefits.
“They have an income every month, but unfortunately they aren’t qualified for housing,” she said. “They are good customers. Most of them have bank accounts. They love a slice of pizza.”
The virtual meeting lasted more than two hours Wednesday night and was ongoing as of press time.
The Idaho Press interviewed three people enrolled in Interfaith Sanctuary’s programs who said they supported the move to the new shelter.
Jeff Chapman, 54, is a recovering methamphetamine addict who’s been sober for about six months thanks to Interfaith Sanctuary’s Recovery for Life program. He also works as a food prepper at the shelter, where he sleeps overnight in the men’s dorm, which can sometimes be cramped, he said. The new shelter would have a full kitchen, to replace the current food prep facility: a former food truck, located on the back patio.
“I’m hearing there’s a lot bigger space,” Chapman said of the proposed State Street shelter. “I know it’s hard on the staff to turn somebody away at night because they only have so much room. With that bigger facility, I think it’s going to be a lot easier to bring them in.”
Critics of the new shelter “may be judging a little too harshly,” Chapman said.
“There’s a lot of good people that are homeless,” he said. “Then again, there’s people that give the homeless a bad name, as well, but we got no control over that.”
Shasha Boseke, 32, said she prefers the current location because it’s closer to her job at the Residence Inn, where she works as a housekeeper. Otherwise, she supports the move, she said.
“I believe it is a good idea,” Boseke said. But Boseke, who’s been homeless for 14 years due to drug and alcohol addiction, hopes the move won’t affect her, because “I should be housed by then. I’ll have my own place here in Boise, Idaho.”
