KTRV Fox 12 New Hope House Closes Doors In Nampa Subdivision

New Hope House Closes Doors In Nampa Subdivision

Nampa, Idaho -- A controversial halfway house in the middle of a Nampa family neighborhood has settled its lawsuit with the city.

You may remember local Christian leader Dennis Mansfield created an uproar when the home for ex-convicts, parolees, alcoholics and addicts opened its doors in the single family subdivision.

The city reached the agreement with New Hope in February. Under the terms, New Hope agreed to comply with city building codes and to house only five people and one staff member.

On Tuesday, this story took a bizarre twist. New Hope is closing its doors at its Nampa halfway house.

When Fox 12 News got there the place was empty. We found out New Hope is closing the transition home on Stonehedge Drive.

"It is sad. It kind of reduces the opportunities for people who need help. It's very sad," said Todd Hollenbeck, with New Hope.

People who live in the subdivision say word that they are closing their doors couldn't be better news.

"We're pretty happy as a neighborhood. We went through some hardships as a neighborhood to have them," said Tyler Long.

Young has kids and so do most of the families who live here. He says living right next to the halfway house was a nightmare.

"There's a place for houses like this, but I don't think they should be allowed in residential neighborhoods ever," said Young.

He says residents smoked out back, he didn't want to sit in his hot tub ,and the family constantly worried.

"This is a family neighborhood. There's kids around here. We shouldn't have to worry about whether or not they're safe," said Young.

But the people who work with parolees and addicts say when they get released from prison they just need a little help.

"Everybody does. You come out of prison, you're penniless, and you have the clothes on your back. You go through several steps to try and get re-integrated to get back into society. That's what this place was designed to do," said Hollenbeck.

Now that void will have to be filled elsewhere, which Hollenbeck says could be local missions.

The bottom line is halfway and transition houses can still open up right in your neighborhood, but it's not as likely. Legislation passed in 2008 gives cities much more of a say over those kinds of facilities.

As for the New Hope house in Nampa, had they not reportedly had financial troubles they would still be doing business there.