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City Government

Correction on Community House

 August 12, 2005 ⋅  Post a comment

We ran this little brief last week about homeless problems:

COMMUNITY HOUSE
The Boise city council turned down a non-cash “equity bid” of $250,000 from Community House Inc. as down payment on the City owned homeless shelter. The council then turned around and GAVE them $206,000 to pay the bills at the privately operated facility.

This is a real thorny issue because no one seems to know WHO should pay for homeless people. Many are unable to care for themselves, some are down on their luck, some are mothers and kids, some are single men. Society knows better than putting kids with adult men and women, but it seems there is no logical answer from government.

The city has ponied up close to $800,000 in the past year and a half and it would seem logical for them to cut their losses and GIVE the building to a responsible private group with big hearts. The city wanted cash which seems odd when they pull all kinds of shenanigans of their own with fire stations, the airport and other real estate.

The mayor’s spokesperson, Mike Zuzel, said we goofed up on some facts and sent the following explanation which should clear up any questions:

MAYOR’S OFFICE EXPLANATION
Dave, apparently you’ve confused Community House (the building, and the programs it houses) with Community House Inc. (the private, non-profit corporation that ran Community House until Spring 2004, when it went kablooey financially and the City was forced to take over operations of the building and programs. Community House Inc. (the corporation), which recently submitted the no-cash “equity” bid for Community House (the building and programs), has played no role in operating the facility for about 18 months now.

It would take me an hour, minimum, to explain all of the details and complexities of this situation. For now, suffice it to say that it is simply wrong to assert, as you have, that the City has given $200,000 plus to Community House Inc. (the corporation). Didn’t happen. The City Council did, in fact, authorize spending those dollars to keep Community House (the building and programs) operating through the end of July.

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