Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. (NHS) is a non-profit organization founded in 1982. NHS is a chartered member of NeighborWorks®, a nationwide network of 240 trained and certified community development organizations at work in more than 4,000 communities across America.
At NHS we believe that home is the key to thriving communities. With this focus, and help from our supporters, we have been able to provide services to thousands of Idahoans through a myriad of community and housing related programs.
Here is a list of programs and services that NHS offers.
Affordable and Low-Income Housing
9.46% of Boise households are living in poverty and Idaho is one of the top ten states per capita with the highest rate of homelessness. NHS provides housing for 363 low-to-moderate income families in Idaho, including 175 refugee and immigrant family members. Going beyond providing a safe place to live, your $9 also helps to fund resident services such as: English as a second language, providing coats for resident children, school supplies, etc.
Homebuyer Education, Lending & Foreclosure Prevention Counseling
Idaho ranks 5th for foreclosures in the United States. NHS provided 1,300 families with in-depth pre-purchase and foreclosure counseling from 2008 to 2010. Homebuyer Education classes prepared 306 first-time homebuyers for all facets of homeownership in 2010. In addition to Education, NHS is also a full-cycle lender. According to the National Association of Realtors® for each median priced home sold, up to $60,000 is pumped back into the local economy. NHS has funded over 160 loans, since 2009, to low-to-moderate income Idaho families who would not traditionally qualify; up to $9,700,000 injected into the Idaho economy. Your $9 also helps to continue the funding and maintenance of these loan products: stimulating the economy, creating jobs, and absorbing housing inventory.
Community Volunteer Events
NHS coordinates two of the largest volunteer events in the state of Idaho: Paint the Town™ & Rake up Boise™. Rake up Boise™ is celebrating it’s 26th year of helping Boise seniors and disabled residents maintain their yards in the fall. Since it’s inception, over 110,000 volunteers have raked over 13,000 yards, accumulating over 304,000 biodegradable leaf bags (equal to 3.5 Million pounds of leaves!). The leaves are collected and composted; the compost is then used to fertilize area parks. Your $9 helps to pay for the coordination of one volunteer and over 6 bags of leaves that are turned to compost!
In 2010, Paint the Town™ painted 116 homes with the help of 2,600 volunteers. In 2011 NHS organized a “home makeover” project for a deserving, long-time Boise resident, Chuck Warren. These NHS events engage over 8,000 volunteers annually, helping to make the Boise Valley one of the most livable places in the United States.
