Eviction rates are on the rise in the state of Idaho amidst the recent Supreme Court verdict in which the court ruled that unhoused individuals are not protected under the Constitution from violence or “cruel and unusual punishment”. This ruling followed Martin v. Boise where the Supreme Court ruled that ticketing and fining unhoused individuals does not violate the Eighth Amendment, which would protect individuals from cruel and unusual punishment.
Due to both of these factors, but particularly the extreme heat Boise, Idaho, is experiencing, many shelters are facing a significant number of individuals in need of a safe place to live. Jessica Abbott, the Executive Director for Corpus Christi House explained that as the “designated cooling center” this summer, the shelter has had to adapt and establish new resources. Some of these resources include extending their hours from closing at 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., and a misting system that was donated by Mr. Misters.
Abbott has witnessed several residents suffer from heat-related seizures and described the shift that has occurred for residents this summer.
“That’s been the big shift as the heat has gone up,” Abbott said. “People used to hang out on the back patio and now everybody’s moving inside to stay cool.”
Abbott iterated that the process of finding shelter as an unhoused individual is not as simple as walking in and requesting somewhere to sleep — many shelters have barriers put in place. These barriers can range from high to low barriers, or have zero barriers like Corpus Christi House.
As someone whose life work is dedicated to providing solutions for unhoused individuals, Abbott shared her feelings of frustration toward the Supreme Court ruling.
“For those of us out here doing the work, it’s maddening,” Abbott said. “It’s just maddening to see so much time, money and effort put into the wrong thing. It’s not a solution — our numbers are going to keep growing.”
Abbott hopes that in the future individuals will realize homelessness is an issue that affects the entire Boise community.
“It takes everybody,” Abbott said. “It takes your corporations here, it takes the people paying the bills, having livable wages … It’s more than just a government issue, it’s a community issue and I think that’s where it gets lost.”
Martin Orr, a sociology professor at Boise State University explained how the issue of homelessness, which already is stigmatized, could become even more so due to the verbiage of the legislation. Orr condemned the idea that unhoused individuals have a choice in the matter.
“I think [the word] criminalization itself … the message is that [for] these people, this is not beyond their control,” Orr said. “Homelessness is something that they could end if they chose to end it, and [it’s] within their power to not be homeless, it’s okay to charge them with a crime of being homeless, so that [idea] is very weird.”
Orr believes that fining and ticketing unhoused people criminalizes homelessness.
Orr highlighted the concept of “mutually reinforcing cycles” between the media, legislation and the issue of homelessness.
“The media ignores it and demonizes it, and the legislation criminalizes it,” Orr said. “People get afraid of it and callous toward it, and add more legislation to keep it out of sight, out of mind.”
Krista Paulsen, a professor for Boise State’s Urban Studies and Community Development Program provided her insight into which factors lead to high eviction rates, as well as the lack of education surrounding tenants’ rights..
Paulsen highlighted that one prominent issue affecting access to affordable housing in Boise is the remodeling of rentals or other non-luxury homes.
“Particularly, two or three years ago when the housing market here was just exploding, a lot of properties that had been rentals were sold, or were remodeled and kind of remade into something that was more geared toward the higher end or luxury market,” Paulsen said. “Those kinds of disruptions are also reasons that people get evicted or lose their housing. So when we talk about evictions typically it’s because someone has really fallen behind on their rent, and that can be for a variety of reasons.”
Paulsen pointed out that while some smaller-scale renters may be willing to work with renters, oftentimes larger-scale rental owners are not as flexible.
“When we think about why people get evicted it’s lots of different things,” Paulsen said. “One is being behind because you’re financially tenuous in the first place. Two, it’s that maybe the landlord is not willing to work with you, and then three comes down to tenants [not] knowing their rights as tenants and also state to state and jurisdiction to jurisdiction tenants have different rights.”
For some individuals, after receiving that initial eviction notice, they are under the impression that they must move out that day — which Paulsen says is not always the case. Organizations like Jesse Tree provide tenants with educational resources and strategies during that period before the eviction takes place.
“When some folks get that first notification, they freak out and just say I better get out of here before I get kicked out and that’s really too bad because during that period, there are some resources that are available,” Paulsen said. “There are organizations in the Treasure Valley who are really great at helping people when they’re in that kind of situation.”
Mayor McLean has responded to the Supreme Court’s ruling and declared that Boise will continue to provide “supportive services” to unhoused individuals, however, the city of Boise will continue their ordinances that fine and ticket unhoused people, putting these individuals at risk of being ticketed.
