NAMPA, Idaho — Mom of two, Katie Brock, believes some people are just dealt a bad hand in life.
“We wound up getting evicted from the apartment we were in because we just couldn’t make it work,” she said. “The landlord didn’t want to wait another two weeks for our check to come in.”
Brock said her family was homeless for about a year, living in motels. For the past month, the Brock family has lived at the Salvation Army’s Nampa Community Family Shelter.
But the future of the family shelter is uncertain. Unless they raise $300,000 by the end of February, Capt. Allison Struck, Salvation Army Corps Officer, said they will have to displace up to 13 families.
The family shelter is the only shelter that keeps all families together, she said.
“There are other places that can accommodate mom, and a couple of kids,” Struck said. “We’re the only ones that takes mom, dad and kids. And we’re the only one that takes single dads and teenagers.”
Before COVID-19, the family shelter only operated during the winter. But thanks to relief money, it opened year-round.
Struck said more and more families cannot afford a place to live and so the need is rising. But that relief money is running out.
“We don’t want to think about infants sleeping in cars or young children, toddlers sleeping in cars or high schoolers,” she said. “But we have to confront the reality.”
If they don’t make the difference, Struck said they will have to revert to operating seasonally. Even if that happens, day programs will continue.
Families can stay at the shelter for up to six months. Brock said not only does the shelter provide a roof over her family’s heads, it also provides structure.
“We’ve recently implemented a schedule to try to get ourselves into a routine so that when we do leave here, we still follow through with that routine,” she said. “We even have family time at a certain time; that way the kids know that they always have a time set aside just to spend with them.”
There are not many resources around the Treasure Valley for homeless families, she said, and that the family shelter is “the only place that really gives hope to families that want to do better.”
Since her family was evicted, Struck said it is difficult finding a place to live. She is saving money and hoping to find a place with the help of the Nampa Salvation Army.
People can donate to the family shelter on the Salvation Army’s website.
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