BOISE – A critical $1.37 million has been secured by the Idaho Housing and Finance Association to provide critical housing and supportive services for the state’s homeless population, IHFA officials announced.

"We’re pleased to receive additional funding this year," said Julie Williams, IHFA vice president of Community Housing Services. "These resources will go a long way toward providing much-needed shelter and supportive services to Idaho’s homeless." IHFA procured $1.26 million and $1.3 million in 1998 and 1997, respectively, for Idaho homeless programs.

IHFA serves as the lead agency in Idaho’s Homeless Coordination Network. In this role, IHFA is responsible for the coordination and submission of the competitive annual Continuum of Care application for federal Homeless Assistance funds. This process includes coordinating the efforts of more than 60 statewide homeless service agencies to identify and support regional projects in the application, and to set regional priorities that meet the needs of homeless individuals and families.

Individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Idaho are a very diverse group united by two common denominators—the lack of affordable housing and extreme poverty. Persons living in poverty frequently do not have the adequate resources to pay for basic survival requirements such as housing, food and health care. Living with extremely limited financial resources often creates difficult choices in choosing which basic needs will be met and which ones will not. Due to the high proportion of income required to obtain housing, often it is the housing need that is unmet.¹

During 1998, the average percentage of Idahoans living in poverty was 13.8 percent, a rate that virtually paralleled the national average of 13 percent. A significant difference between those figures is that Idaho’s poverty rate reflected a 0.6 percent increase while the national rate decreased by 0.5 percent. ²

Last year, the state’s homeless population increased by one percent. At least 19,400 Idahoans (1.6 percent) experienced homelessness at some time between July 1998 and June 1999.¹ The estimated need for emergency shelter per day was 353 for individuals and 399 for families in 1999. ³ Due to the lack of space in emergency shelters, one in five homeless persons seeking shelter was turned away by organizations that received housing and supportive service funding. These figures are based solely on the number of people who actively sought housing with an emergency shelter. They do not account for the homeless living in cars, with friends or through other means.

Few housing options beyond emergency shelters are available to the state’s homeless. Transitional housing is in limited supply. Last year, there were only 41 individual and 108 family transitional housing units available in Idaho, compared to a need for 75 individual and 309 family units.³

Each year, the Homeless Coordination Network finalizes the prioritization of regional projects before submission to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Refer to the attached document for a breakdown of how the $1.37 million will be used in Idaho.

¹ State of Idaho Five-Year Strategic Plan for Housing and Community Development. Submitted to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by the Idaho Housing and Finance Association and the Idaho Department of Commerce, February 1, 2000.
² U.S. Census Bureau
³ Estimated need determined by point-in-time study with data collected October 5, 1999.

IDAHO’S HOMELESS COORDINATION NETWORK

Resource Allocation

This is the fifth year Idaho has received funds based on its nationally competitive application—a joint effort by the Idaho Housing and Finance Association and its housing partners. Following is a breakdown of how the money will be used statewide:

• IHFA will use $142,140 of the $1.37 million to provide Shelter Plus Care rental assistance for persons with mental illnesses.

• Idaho Development and Housing Organization, Caldwell, will use $398,516 in a new project to purchase and rehabilitate eight units of transitional housing with supportive services in southwest Idaho.

• Pocatello’s Aid for Friends will continue the Homeless Clearinghouse Project, which links homeless persons with case management services and brings homeless service providers together to avoid duplication of services. The $130,700 in funds for this project is a two-year renewal.
  

• St. Vincent de Paul, Coeur d’Alene, will continue to operate their Transitional Housing Program and provide necessary supportive services as part of a $358,128 two-year funding renewal.
  

• CLUB, Inc. was awarded a one-year renewal of $67,498 to continue providing transitional housing and supportive services for persons with mental illnesses in Idaho Falls.
  

• YWCA of Lewiston-Clarkston will use $56,148 in funding to provide transitional housing with supportive services for persons with dual diagnoses, whose primary diagnosis is a mental illness. This is a one-year renewal.

• Bonner County Homeless Task Force received $102,674 for a new project to develop transitional housing with supportive services in Hope, Idaho.
  

• Idaho Legal Aid and Valley Crisis Center in Nampa will continue to provide legal services and case management for southwest Idaho women and children who are homeless as a result of domestic violence, using a one-year renewal of $61,645.