What is North Idaho/CDA area going to be like in 5/10 years? (Athol: live, move)

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Cyanna

And now they want to set up a community of "tiny homes," for the homeless junkies, alcoholics and criminals to live in, free of charge.

It's cheaper than keeping them in jail.

But this is Idaho. The housing won't be free. Cheap, but not free.

Folks here who have those problems have halfway houses to help them out already, but they all have to pay for their shelter. That's always been Idaho's way, and I don't expect it to change.

Personally, I prefer to see alcoholics and all the rest in shelters where they get some help and supervision than living under an overpass at the edge of town, where they're getting nothing except plans to get into more trouble.

I also know not all the homeless are drunks, junkies, or criminals. The edge between being a poor working man and a homeless man is mighty narrow these days, and I know that if a law-abiding man gets a little of the necessities when he's at his lowest and needs them the most, the chances he has of regaining his former life are greater than when he's out on the streets with no home to go to.

I would rather see those folks become taxpayers again as soon as they can. Helping them is just paying forward a little bit for me, and I suspect those people are the ones who will get the first shot at any openings in the tiny homes.
After all, when a person has a fixed address and a place to clean up, finding a job becomes much less difficult. They don't need much to do better when they have lost everything.

[Cnynrat]

I assume this may be the reference to the proposed tiny home project to support the homeless:

TINY HOME TRANSITIONAL PROJECT OFFERS OPEN HOUSES

The backers of this proposal are a faith based group originally formed by some Quakers. Reading the article it seems the target community is not predominantly alcoholics, drug addicts, etc., but rather "families, women with children, seniors and veterans."

I admire their mission - better that these issues be dealt with through private charity vs. the government IMO.

One concern I'd have is the proposed location in the Athol/Rathdrum area is pretty far from most likely employment prospects, which may inhibit successful transitions to success on their own. My understanding is the group originally wanted to do this in CdA, but were rejected which is why they are now considering the new location.

Dave

[jpbuse]

Originally Posted by 509

2025 isn't that far away. Not sure what the curve is of baby boomer births. It might be interesting to see if they start decreasing the closer you get to 1964.

Your second point might be correct. I live in small metro area that put in fiber optic lines at the turn of the century. Our realtor estimates that 25% of the people moving in to the area are working out of their homes. It is an attractive small town with 1Gbps internet on the fiber network.

I lived in CDA and it seems light years behind on the technology curve. It is a pretty community and that attracts people.

However, the demographics are still there. With urban people immigrating to this country not sure how many would chose Idaho and CDA particularly with the lack of fiber.

Where do you live in the area that has fiber? Was it Sandpoint?

[Shaner]

Noone has fiber besides some business's. Fiber is not a residential item in our area.

[Cnynrat]

Ting is building out fiber in Sandpoint, and I believe it will be available to residential customers in town.

Dave

[ShadoAngel]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

Ting is building out fiber in Sandpoint, and I believe it will be available to residential customers in town.

Oh man, that's good news. Looks like construction started in late March/early April of this year. Sounds like soon (June) is when the first homes/businesses will start to receive service. $90 for 1 gig up and down is stellar. I live in a fiber neighborhood now and I think 1 gig down / 100mb up is $160 - nearly double the price.

[aiden_is]

Originally Posted by ShadoAngel

Oh man, that's good news. Looks like construction started in late March/early April of this year. Sounds like soon (June) is when the first homes/businesses will start to receive service. $90 for 1 gig up and down is stellar. I live in a fiber neighborhood now and I think 1 gig down / 100mb up is $160 - nearly double the price.

Some of us have microwave 5 Mb / 5 Mb for $205. You kids are spoiled.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

I assume this may be the reference to the proposed tiny home project to support the homeless:

TINY HOME TRANSITIONAL PROJECT OFFERS OPEN HOUSES

The backers of this proposal are a faith based group originally formed by some Quakers. Reading the article it seems the target community is not predominantly alcoholics, drug addicts, etc., but rather "families, women with children, seniors and veterans."

I admire their mission - better that these issues be dealt with through private charity vs. the government IMO.

One concern I'd have is the proposed location in the Athol/Rathdrum area is pretty far from most likely employment prospects, which may inhibit successful transitions to success on their own. My understanding is the group originally wanted to do this in CdA, but were rejected which is why they are now considering the new location.

Dave

So they want to put up a trailer court in Athol and dump all the deadbeats and druggies from CDA there? Seems like all they want to do is move the "problem" from the high rent district out to where working people with less clout in the political arena live. Sad to see this happening, especially at a time when Athol is finally getting ahead. They have the new commercial development/grocery there, the highway no longer cuts apart downtown and nicer homes are being built in the area. So now they want to stall that by dumping the drug users, criminals and bums there? Nice. Really nice.

[volosong]

It was in today's paper. The "developers" are not going forward due to the overwhelming negative reaction from local residents. They state that they were "unprepared" for the tremendous backlash.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

I assume this may be the reference to the proposed tiny home project to support the homeless:

TINY HOME TRANSITIONAL PROJECT OFFERS OPEN HOUSES

The backers of this proposal are a faith based group originally formed by some Quakers. Reading the article it seems the target community is not predominantly alcoholics, drug addicts, etc., but rather "families, women with children, seniors and veterans.".....

There is a lot to be admired about private charities trying to help the homeless. My opinion is that the homeless need to be close to whatever aid is available because they don't have transportation. That means walking distance to town and sufficient public transportation.. Then, nobody wants to live next door to them, so perhaps these little housing projects could be placed in industrial zoned areas, where it isn't so important to look tidy. The charity running the project should provide and pay for extra security in the area to prevent theft from the nearby businesses.

I can see the value of a bunch of tiny houses for the senior citizens who mistakenly thought they were going to live on their social security benfits.

For single mothers, it would be more useful to provide a day care so they could go out and work and pay for their own housing.

Most of the homeless though, are not actually great people who are temporarily down on their luck so it's going to be challenging to find a place to house them where the neighbors arent going to get up in arms about it..