Boise chief of staff outlines housing, transit and public-safety priorities; police report major crime down 18%

Courtney Washburn, chief of staff for the City of Boise, briefed the City Council on the mayor’s strategic priorities — housing, transportation, climate, public safety and economic development — and reported progress on multiple fronts.

Washburn said the city’s affordable housing pipeline includes projects completed and under construction: "completed in 2025 is Wilson Station. Denton will be completed in December," and she listed projects scheduled for 2026 through 2028, including New Path 2 (95 supportive homes) and Sherwood (48 supportive homes). She framed homelessness work as cross-agency, aimed at preventing people exiting juvenile services, state hospitals or correctional facilities from entering homelessness.

The update included a series of policing and public-safety metrics and operational changes. "Traffic enforcement is up 36% with almost 27,000 stops conducted between January and September 2025," Washburn said. She also said overall major crime in Boise "is down 18%, and it's been driven by a reduction in burglary theft and motor vehicle theft." The city said calls for service and demands on officers have continued to increase, with 2024 seeing an almost 10% rise and 2025 showing a…