City Government
Logic Prevails in Homeless Plight
December 9, 2005 
Instead of rushing to build a tent city in the back yard of the Jewish synagogue at 11 N. Latah, an interfaith group has met with the city and agreed to house needy homeless people in various churches until a central temporary facility can be found.
Council President Maryanne Jordan said there were just too many problems associated with the tent city plan and Boise City asked the group to scrap the idea.
“A better response is to temporarily house them in this church, then a series of other churches, until we can find a building downtown that is zoned for the kind of shelter we are talking about,” said Will Rainford, Interfaith Alliance.
In a posting last night we opined: “The GUARDIAN thinks the proper approach is to slow down, get some church basements opened up and forget about tents.”
Whether or not anyone even read the GUARDIAN, it is nice to see common sense from all involved.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Dec 10, 2005, 9:18 am
Not so fast, Guardian!
So far this is just a pie-in-the-sky notion… WAY too early to declare that logic has prevailed.
When those well-meaning churches fling their doors open wide to welcome the downtrodden, you can bet the bureaucrats will show up to make sure there are adequate bathing facilities, ceiling sprinklers, etc., etc. Occupancy permits will most likely have to be issued, etc.
It ain’t just a question of “no room at the inn” any more.
Dec 11, 2005, 3:12 pm
Guardian; You’ve made common sense prevail on the tent ridiculousness. There are countless vacant buildings in the downtown area in good repair that the mayor and concil can see are used to house those without. Bieter and city council created manifest problems for all when they gave Mr. Roscoe the keys to an already well-run Community House.
Dec 11, 2005, 5:49 pm
I was so touched by Mary Jordon’s concern about the homeless. I never realized that the underside of a bridge had smoke dectectors or heaters. Or fire extinguishers. I really must keep up.