Apartment City

Bruce Chatterton moved to Meridian from Boise more than four years ago. The “room to grow” that is Meridian’s essence made him want to live and work there. Now the city’s community development director , Chatterton says it’s also been “fun seeing a small, somewhat quiet downtown become a place people want to hang out.” Meridian still has plenty of room to spread out, and that’s good, because its population is booming. It was the 13th-fastest-growing city in the U.S. last year. And it’s not just about Meridian. The growth is changing the whole Treasure Valley , affecting traffic, housing, health care, education and retail. The 2016 U.S. Census estimates put Meridian ’s population at nearly 96,000. The Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho (Compass) estimates today ’s population at just more than 98,000. That’s a tenfold jump since 1990.   The growth seems unlikely to look to slow anytime soon, says Compass planner and demographics specialist Carl Miller , who lives in Meri...

Dhan Subedi flipped through sheets of apartment listings on Thursday, 15 days before the deadline for her four-person household to vacate Glenbrook Apartments . She’d circled and called the most affordable units in Boise. The earliest one would be available was Oct. 15, nearly a week after her deadline to leave a one-bedroom, $575-a-month apartment. Her 13-month-old son, Kaden, rolled around the floor at the feet of her mother, Mina Subedi. The families of both Dhan and her husband, Prem Subba, are Bhutanese, though Dhan was born during her family’s two-decade stay at a refugee camp in Nepal. Subba’s was one of thousands of Nepalese- speaking families evicted from the country. Located at the corner of South Curtis Road and Cassia Street, the family’s sparse Glenbrook unit is close to the Boise Airport, where Subba works, and State Street, where Subedi works at a market. It’s also close to the former Boise International Market , where the couple owned the Bhutanese and Nepali grocery...