More Than 200 Homeless in Boise are on the Wait List for Housing
A roundtable is coming up tomorrow to talk about rising homelessness in Boise, and it comes at a time when Boise has more people than ever in need of housing.
Boise's homeless population is growing. In 2019, there were 166 people on the waiting list for housing, and KTVB said that there are now more than 250 on that same list.
Our Path Home is a team of more than thirty agencies working toward ending homelessness in Ada County, and the program's director, Andrea Roope, told KTVB that most of those names have been on the list for more than two years. They're looking for partners to build homes so the folks on the list can be rehoused, and Boise's Ending Family Homelessness project would work to place families into neighborhoods and keep them strong, safe, and stable.
The goal is to raise $8.6 million to add to housing projects that are already in the works like New Path Community Housing, which is home to over two dozen people now. Valor Point has 27 units for veterans. And Adare Manor is a place with more than one hundred affordable apartments. There's another project in the works at Franklin and Orchard roads that will break ground in a few months, and that will be a spot for two hundred homes. Boise is hopping on the situation to do something about it, and the goal is to make sure no one spends more than two months in a homeless shelter.
At tomorrow's roundtable talk on homelessness, you have the chance to grab more info about the current homeless situation and add thoughts and ideas about the best moves to make to help solve the problem. Mayor Lauren McLean, Boise Police Chief Ryan Lee, and homelessness experts are planning to share some insight, and then they'll have topic-specific breakout sessions.
The roundtable will happen Wednesday, April 14th from 9:30 AM – 11:30 PM.