City Government
Council Studies Trailer Park Purchase
April 1, 2022 
Citing a need to preserve low-cost affordable housing, Boise City Councilors discussed the purchase of a trailer park in the Vista neighborhood at Shoshone and Malad at a recent work session.
Council President Elaine Clegg said, “This is a great opportunity to secure a revenue source for taxpayers and preserve shelter for our unhoused community members.” She noted the city is in the real estate rental business at the airport, Gateway industrial park, and the Franklin-Orchard housing development. The trailer business would just be an extension of the city’s marketing scheme.
Mayor Lauren McLean was a supporter of the idea noting she would gladly make a “business recruiting trip” in an attempt to attract house trailer manufacturers to relocate in Boise. She declined to name potential businesses or a destination for any trip. At one time there were several manufacturers along Federal Way providing jobs for Boiseans.
Golden Dawn trailer park off Warm Springs is nearly surrounded by Harris Ranch upscale housing and Councilor Lisa Sanchez suggested the city purchase the property so, “People who look like me” can have cheap housing in the east Boise area.
Newest councilor Luci Willits liked the idea of more affordable housing and noted the house trailers are similar in shape to the so-called “skinny housing” found throughout the city. Willits noted with the modular design and shape, the house trailers would fit nicely on the median strip already owned by the city along Harrison Blvd.
She jokingly called her plan a “median priced” housing fix, adding, “No reason to limit affordable housing to the Bench area. We should provide affordable shelter in the North End as well.”
Councilor Jimmy Hallyburton jumped on the idea saying he would gladly give each new resident on Harrison a bicycle to show his support of unhoused citizens moving into the median priced homes.
Always the voice of caution, Councilor Patrick Bagaent told his colleagues, “Check the date here and then think!”
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Comments & Discussion
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Apr 1, 2022, 8:54 am
Brilliant!
Apr 1, 2022, 9:30 am
Love it! In the era of upzoning, every sq ft inch is up for grabs it seems!
Apr 1, 2022, 9:51 am
I got the impression Willits (not my district) was more conservative.
Was I wrong?
Lots of us don’t realize how much housing the city and county already have.
EDITOR NOTE–Eastie, did you read the ENTIRE post? Follow the advice of Bagaent at the end! 🙂
Apr 1, 2022, 10:31 am
Nicely done.
Apr 1, 2022, 12:02 pm
Um… Mr. Guardian, I’m totally flummoxed by this year’s (4/1) post. For you see… on 3/16 – NOT one of those days when the news is any more “fake” than normal – I read about this trailer park purchase on the BoiseDev.
“The City of Boise is looking to pick up some new affordable housing for its roster.
“On Tuesday, Boise City Council approved the purchase of a mobile home park near Shoshone Park at 2717 W. Malad Street in order, it says, to prevent the low-income residents from being displaced due to development.”
– Margaret Carmel, BoiseDev
(Story: https://boisedev.com/news/2022/03/16/boise-malad-mobile-homes/ )
Selling price – $3.25 million.
The only significant deviation I could see… in the BoiseDev story, new Council member Lucy Willits cast a vote in opposition. Oh – and the notion of single-wides along the Harrison median – Ultimate In-Fill! Elaine Clegg should be all over that idea!
So, did BoiseDev just jump the gun by a couple weeks? Or are you playing us all for double-fools??
(-;
Apr 1, 2022, 1:38 pm
Be very aware of any need to preserve low-cost affordable housing. California started that ever since the Agenda21 wanted it. I would research who is pushing it and who they received the request from.
EDITOR NOTE–Did you read the entire post? The real life sale was the basis for this post, but did you check today’s date or are you just another APRIL FOOL?
Apr 1, 2022, 2:46 pm
This would be funnier if the city council weren’t filled with a bunch of fools, developer toadies, and corporate shills the other 364 days each year.
Apr 2, 2022, 11:33 am
Bubba, which one of them is the developer toadie? Since you use plural, how many of them?
The corporate shills?
Sanchez? Halliburton? Forever Clegg supported by the north enders? New Willits? Oh it must be Woodings, the classic American family housewife?
Maybe it’s you Bubba. You’re the problem for our fine city. You probably even live in Eagle. Maybe there is an EagleGuardian.
Apr 2, 2022, 7:40 pm
Thanks for the link bikeboy.
I would like to point out Willits comment so closely tied the joke above.
“Purchasing existing affordable housing is not the direction Willits hopes to go.
She said buying more —- will be counterintuitive to the work the Idaho Legislature is doing to cut property taxes —.
Willits also objected because the purchase means “the city could become a landlord.”
The City of Boise currently owns and operates more than 200 units of its own affordable housing.”
To Willits- What work is the legislature doing to cut property taxes that you speak of?
As the article states, the city owns lots of residential property and subsidizes rent payments to many private property owners with voucher payments.
The city is already an ample landlord and has been for a long time!
Owning residential land is a valid point. But to say, the city COULD BECOME a landlord; dang!
Are you really that UNINFORMED as a city councilmember? District 1?
That property pays $15,000 in property tax, 6,000 of that goes to the City. I’m sure the city will collect more in space rent from the residents– win, win?
EDITOR NOTE–While the city may collect $6,000, that means the other $9,000 in tax revenue for county, schools, and ACHD will come from other taxpayers…no taxes on city-owned property.
Apr 2, 2022, 11:02 pm
Note: Of course. But the city can say the same thing for excess property owned by ACHD, schools, and the county.
A councilperson’s concern ought to be city budget first- not what is good for ___.
ACHD lists 16 Million in “Ponds” as an asset.
Think of the tax base for privately owned fishing clubs, paddle boat operations, or admittance for redneck swimming holes? Or just the lost tax base?
The post is not about the taxes, it about Willits uniformed statement (expecting it was quoted accurately).
EDITOR NOTE–The entire post is an APRIL FOOLS joke!! The only “fact” is the purchase of the trailer park. Quotes are made up. To pull off the joke you need a grain of truth to make it believable.
Apr 4, 2022, 2:29 pm
April Fools joking aside, the main problem in either Ada or Canyon counties is no one builds, nor seeks approval for a mobile home park.
All elected officials just provide lip service and say they will work on affordable housing, then don’t deliver at all.
RV parks are the closet we have to semi-permanent dwellings.
Apr 4, 2022, 6:48 pm
You nailed it for CP Clegg. “revenue source”. Her idea of density might be called bigger wallets. She is imagining Queens.
Apr 4, 2022, 7:04 pm
Old, stale joke that comes to mind…
Q: What do a Texas Tornado and a Garden City Divorce have in common?
A: SOMEBODY’S gonna be losing a trailer house!
(We’d have more tornados, if we had more trailer parks.) (That’s a joke, too!)
Apr 10, 2022, 3:24 pm
Regarding the Boise City trailer park purchase: will City Code Enforcement actually enforce appropriate codes (trash, trailers, old cars, etc.) in that park? Because Code Enforcement has been absent from any such action across the city for a couple of years, now. No, not COVID-related because their work is solo, in a vehicle, no one else working with them.