Community leaders and partners from across the valley gathered today to celebrate the groundbreaking of Valor Pointe, a 27-unit apartment complex offering health care, mental health counseling and substance use treatment to our community’s veterans experiencing chronic homelessness.
Located at 4203 West State Street, Valor Pointe will include 27 one-bedroom, one-bathroom units, 26 for veterans and one for a live-in manager. Two of the units will be fully accessible to residents with disabilities, and the rest will be adaptable, ensuring they can be easily modified to become accessible for occupants with disabilities or mobility challenges. Additional building amenities include an open floor plan with a private balcony/patio, community lounge, classroom, computer lab, onsite laundry, fitness room and a therapeutic garden.
“Valor Pointe is the second housing development in our city that utilizes the Housing First model, providing community members with a secure and stable place to live, along with essential services needed to help them get back on their feet,” said Boise Mayor Dave Bieter. “I could not be prouder and more grateful to our community partners who committed to addressing such a complex problem for our most vulnerable veterans.”
Valor Pointe is made possible through Our Path Home, the public-private partnership working to end homelessness in Ada County.
Funding for Valor Pointe primarily comes through low-income housing tax credits awarded by Idaho Housing and Finance Association. Other funding partners include, Boise City/Ada County Housing Authorities, the City of Boise, the HOME Partnership Foundation, Micron, US Bank, The Julius C. Jeker Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Albertsons, the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, Boise Cascade, Together Treasure Valley, the Idaho Statesman and other generous individuals in our community. The Boise Veterans Administration Medical Center will provide the wrap-around services for residents.
“IHFA is excited to be a part of this community effort to provide safe and stable housing to some of our state’s veterans,” said Gerald Hunter, president of Idaho Housing and Finance Association. “This is a major step in bringing community resources together to build something we believe will help heal and restore the lives of many veterans experiencing homelessness.”
According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, approximately 11% of the adult population experiencing homelessness are veterans. Ada County exceeds the national average with 14% of our population experiencing homelessness counted as veterans.
The developer of Valor Pointe is Northwest Real Estate Capital Corp. Project design is by CSHQA, Inc. and the general contractor is CSDI Construction, Inc.
“Through incredible efforts by many generous community partners, Valor Pointe will provide essential permanent supportive housing for veterans, while also exemplifying innovative design of transit-oriented development along Boise’s State Street corridor,” said Jess Giuffré, Development Manager, Northwest Real Estate Capital Corp.
Today’s groundbreaking event, hosted by the City of Boise and Idaho Housing and Financing Association, included remarks from Boise Mayor Dave Bieter, Boise Veteran Affairs, the Boise City/Ada County Housing Authority, a veteran with lived experience, among other partners.
About Housing First
Housing First is an approach to solving homelessness that prioritizes housing persons experiencing chronic homelessness first and then provides wrap-around services to help them live healthier lives. Several major U.S. cities, including Salt Lake City, Houston and San Diego, have documented major reductions in community costs associated with homelessness as a result of Housing First implementations.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development defines the chronic homelessness as an individual with a disabling condition who has been continuously experiencing homelessness for a year or more or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.