BOISE, Idaho — Going from short-term fixes to long-term solutions in Idaho's capital city – Boise is expanding its partnerships with local housing organizations to help combat the city's housing crisis.
The City of Boise in July allocated a $5.5 million investment into New Path Community Housing. That money will go toward at least 90 new affordable homes and the city is brainstorming more options to provide housing for everyone who needs it.
“We need more housing that's affordable at Boise budgets,” said Nicki Hellenkamp, director of housing and homeless policy.
With the housing trends continuing to get more expensive, Hellenkamp said it is a priority for the City of Boise to help in whatever feasible ways it can.
“We saw really significant increases in housing costs over the last several years that have led to a lot of pain, a lot of displacement and a lot of uncertainty and challenges for residents of the city and the state,” Hellenkamp said.
The city hopes to create 400 new homes through this investment and several others in the next three years.
“This is a really big increase in terms of [New Path Homes'] capacity and our community's capacity to make sure that there is housing affordable to folks,” Hellenkamp said.
Hellenkamp said it’s not just the City of Boise working to provide more affordable housing – it takes everyone and a team effort.
‘We're so grateful for the partnerships that we have and will continue to build as we continue to prioritize housing affordability for everyone in our city,” Hellenkamp said.