BOISE, Idaho — Is there any hope for housing?
We continue to report on grants, programs, and ideas aimed at getting more people into affordable housing. And yet, here we are, still in this housing crisis. It's a major worry for a lot of families and I hear from young people all the time that they don't think they'll ever be able to afford a home.
We talked to Nicki Olivier Hellenkamp, Boise's Director of Housing & Homelessness Policy. She said, the good news and bad news, is that it's happening nationwide. Government agencies, along with non-government organizations, everywhere in the United States are putting some effort into fixing the housing crisis. For some, it's their top priority. So, one of them is going to crack this nut, right?
Hellenkamp says, nope, not one of them.
"I don't think anyone is going to crack this nut, because the reality of the challenge of housing affordability is that there's no silver bullet to it. It's going to take a lot of different things to fall into place in order for things to change, and it's going to take a lot of different actors to continue to work on this issue. And we're fortunate that there are a lot of people at the local, state and federal level, in the private sector, in private philanthropy, in the governmental space, in academia and the construction industry... we are all working very hard to try to figure out. What are the levers that we can pull? How can we better collaborate? What does it look like to work in coalition together? And I know that that work will continue. So no, I don't think anyone is going to crack this nut. I think it really is going to take all of us," Hellenkamp said.
And good things are happening. Just last week, the City of Boise unveiled this 200 unit affordable housing complex at Franklin and Orchard. It's the city's first land trust project, has a childcare facility, and is right next to Franklin Park. And that's just one of their affordable housing projects they've completed, with more on the way.
Hellenkamp added, with so many people hurting, they don't get to stop just because it's hard.