Welcoming Neighbors Network

The Sixteen Thirty→Welcoming Neighbors Network→Gem State Housing Alliance route now has identifiable Idaho leadership and concrete policy uses. Sixteen Thirty Fund’s 2024 Schedule I reported a $600,000 grant to Welcoming Neighbors Network. Gem State Housing Alliance’s own history says the Idaho group applied for and won a Welcoming Neighbors Network grant, then hired staff, conducted a listening tour with more than 150 people across Idaho and developed a policy agenda for Idaho cities. Former Idaho state Sen. Ali Rabe is the founding executive director; contemporaneous reporting and Rabe’s own public statement say she led the launch and the statewide listening process. Gem State’s stated policy agenda includes by-right zoning, simplified permits, smaller lot sizes, duplexes/fourplexes/ADUs, housing in commercial/industrial zones, workforce-housing tools and infrastructure financing. Its site says it engages decision-makers, shapes policy proposals, runs targeted campaigns, organizes partners and convenes developers, lenders, nonprofits and policymakers. Public reporting also identifies board members including Panhandle Affordable Housing Alliance executive director Maggie Lyons and Pacific Companies CEO Caleb Roope, and Boise planning testimony identifies Patrick Spouts as a founding/board member. This establishes a locally governed Idaho policy network using grant-supported capacity for staff, research/listening, coalition-building and municipal zoning/policy advocacy. It does NOT establish that Sixteen Thirty’s $600K specifically funded Gem State, because WNN had other funders and the amount/restrictions of the WNN→Gem State grant remain unresolved.