Society of Saint Vincent de Paul North Idaho

St. Vincent Opens Housing

Originally published by The Coeur d’Alene Press

COEUR d’ALENE — The decor is, in a word, chic — the kind flaunted on the cover of a glossy magazine or in a corporate office building. Serene paintings of forest landscapes dot the walls.

Walking into the Lynn Peterson House, St. Vincent de Paul’s new permanent housing facility for low-income individuals, feels surprisingly classy.

“The goal was to make it a little sophisticated,” said Sheryldene Rogers, consultant from Goodale and Barbieri in Spokane, who helped with planning, designing, decorating and securing funding for the structure. “That really plays into how the residents feel. If it’s not low end, they don’t feel low end.”

Compliments and exclamations of approval echoed through the freshly painted halls of the $2.1 million facility on Friday, when stakeholders attended a ribbon cutting for the building three years in the planning.

Most who live there will likely have been homeless before, said John Bruning, SVDPpresident.

“It’s tremendous,” Bruning said of the need for the housing. “St. Vincent’s operates about 300 units of housing throughout (the area), and they all have waiting lists. Filling the building is the least of our worries.”

The 13,400-square-foot facility at 550 W. Neider Ave. in Coeur d’Alene offers 15 units, where residents with disabilities can live permanently.

Each unit is roughly 550 square feet, and includes a new fridge, dishwasher and stove. The two-story building also includes a laundry facility with private lockers, a community space with dining tables, kitchen and entertainment center, an office and a computer lab with two machines.

“That (the computer lab) is a very important piece,” Rogers said. “It gives residents the chance to fill out job applications, keep contact with relatives and friends.”

Lynn Peterson, former executive director of St. Vincent de Paul, released coos of excitement at the facility she envisioned three years ago.

“It’s beautiful,” she said.

She had been the driving force in applying for the 811 grant from the U.S. Development of Housing and Urban Development, which is intended to supply housing for low-income individuals with disabilities.

Competition for the grant was fierce, Rogers said, with funding for only 15 apartment units allocated for Oregon, Idaho and several Washington counties.

“Competing with Portland and Boise, you have to be very competitive,” she said.

SVDP was put at the head of the line, though, when the nonprofit secured property for the project, thanks to the Coeur d’Alene City Council’s agreement to lease three acres of land for $1 a year.

“We saw ourselves a partner, which is what we like to do when we can make something happen that is important for the community,” said Mayor Sandi Bloem. “That certainly is a project important for the community, and one that came with a good grant because of our partnership.”

SVDP secured the rest of the funding from Idaho Housing and Finance.

Applications for residency are already trickling in, Bruning said.

“I imagine we’ll have a waiting list,” he predicted.

To qualify, an applicant must have a chronic mental illness and be very low income.

The maximum income for an individual is $19,300, and $22,050 for two people.

The units will be federally subsidized for 40 years, so residents will only pay 30 percent of their income, minus medical expenses.

“For people with disabilities, those medical expenses can be substantial, so they won’t be paying very much,” said Renee Greenman, director of the Seattle HUD office, who flew in for the ribbon cutting. “The point is really to provide stable, low-income housing for people can’t afford to live anywhere else.”

There will be even more celebrating to come, Bruning predicted.

SVDP has secured another $3.3 million grant from HUD for a second low-income house on the property, this one a 37-unit facility for low-income seniors.

“Maybe next summer we can be out here doing another one of these,” he said before the ribbon was snipped.