BOISE — The city of Boise has purchased a cell home park on the bank in an effort to maintain existing housing. Residents are grateful that they don’t have to leave, but they are worried about what the long term and maximum cost of living in the Treasury Valley will bring.
In March, the town agreed to buy the assets for $3. 25 million. Twenty-three tenants live in the cell home park at 2717 W. Malad St. , near South Vista Avenue and north of Shoshone Park.
A Thursday press release said the 2-acre site, called Sage Mobile Home Park, has 23 homes and 3 other places for manufactured homes. About 26 other people live on the site.
The Ada County Appraiser valued the land at $1. 47 million this year.
In interviews with the Idaho statesman, citizens and their families said they were involved when they learned of the assets for sale earlier this year.
“I wanted to cry, because I was like, ‘What’s it going to do to us?'” said Michelle Price Calderon, 30, who has lived in the cell phone park since she was nine and now lives with her husband and children.
She has lived on 3 cell phones for the past two decades.
Price Calderon said Wednesday that he likes the location of his home, which is close to where his children go to school and other services. She used to work in fast food restaurants, but now raises her children full-time.
Her husband works in a structure in Nampa and in the past advised the circle of relatives to move to Mountain Home, where life would be cheaper, she said.
“I don’t need to leave the position I’ve lived in all my life,” he said.
Tenants surveyed said they owned their home, but not the land below, and paid between $400 and $450 per month in rent and other utilities.
Years of emerging markets have made Boise one of the least important cities in the United States compared to home prices and local incomes. The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1421, according to Apartment List.
The city council voted 4-1 in March to approve the acquisition of Betts Family Trust, with council member Luci Willits voting against it.
Willits, a Republican, said she thought removing an asset from tax rolls would raise asset taxes for other owners.
Other council members said the allocation would help the availability of existing cheap housing.
“This is a fast-paced housing project,” the council’s interim chair, Holli Woodings, said in March.
“In my opinion, this would prevent dozens of other people from becoming homeless if these assets fell into personal hands,” he said.
While housing has become more expensive in the Treasure Valley, cell home parks, previously, and pejoratively, called RV parks, are being replaced by new developments.
On Tuesday, the council voted to authorize the City of Boise/Ada County housing authorities, who are the low-income citizens who locate housing and manage property. In return, the proceeds from renting the property will pass to the housing authority, according to a municipal memo. The memo calls the arrangement a “pilot project. “
The press claims the community has the “best public transportation” on nearby Vista Avenue.
Lana Graybeal, a city spokeswoman, said the location of the cell homes, near public transportation and a park, made assets feel excited about the city. The city could look at old houses in the same way.
“If others come to the market to sell this way, then yes, we would be interested,” he said.
Preserving housing is part of Mayor Lauren McLean’s plan to allow other low-income people to live in Boise.
After finalizing its purchase, Boise plans to do the maintenance and, for now, allow citizens to stay.
“The city has no quick plans to rebuild the park,” he said. “Instead, in the coming weeks, the city will do maintenance of the park’s electrical formula and more innovations in land and amenities to ensure that no citizen is moved from their homes. “
Elizabeth Cortes’ mother-in-law, 75, lives off malad Street assets. Cortes said he became concerned when he learned the assets were for sale.
“We don’t know where he would go” if he moved, Cortes said.
Price Calderon said many of the property’s citizens are elderly and would like to see the property in town.
The road wants it to work, she says, and citizens have had mice and cockroaches.
He also said he hoped the city wouldn’t turn around and sell the property.
“I hope they commit and keep their words,” he said.