BOISE — Seventy-two guests staying at Interfaith Sanctuary have been moved to The Riverside Hotel to make more room in the shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this week, the shelter reached an agreement with the hotel to house it's families and medically fragile guests at the hotel, in order to make more room for better social distancing measures at the shelter. Interfaith Sanctuary Executive Director Jodi Peterson-Stigers said this will not add additional beds for those in need of shelter, but only made it safer to serve the guests they already have.

"We're at capacity," she said. "What it has allowed us to do in the shelter is to do every other bunk, so we put someone on the bottom bunk and the next person is on the top bunk to create space and it also has taken some pressure off food service," she said.

The hotel rooms were paid for with emergency funds through the city of Boise and Ada County, according to Peterson-Stigers.

Any new families in need of shelter should go to Boise Rescue Mission, which operates City Light Home for Women, for children and their mothers. Single men can either go to River of Life Men's Shelter or single adults of any gender can stay at Interfaith Sanctuary if they have room.

Moving guests to the hotel is part of the Interfaith Sanctuary's ongoing plan to keep monitoring residents during the spread of COVID-19, which includes a daily temperature check for anyone coming in to stay at the shelter for the night and enhanced cleaning measures inside.

Sean Kierce, a Riverside Hotel employee who was working at the front desk on Saturday afternoon, said all of the rooms the hotel had set aside for guests from Interfaith Sanctuary were full. He said the shelter had received a grant from the state, which allowed the shelter to book a block of rooms for guests to stay in to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus among those experiencing homelessness in Boise. The rooms are all one one end of the hotel.

“That way … we can help avoid people getting the coronavirus and we can kind of isolate them and keep them away if one of them does get sick,” Kierce said.

The effort is largely under Interfaith Sanctuary’s control, Kierce said. The sanctuary is providing food for the guests — the hotel is simply providing the necessary shelter.

Kierce said if those experiencing homelessness are looking for a place to stay, they should contact Interfaith Sanctuary.

Idaho Press reporter Tommy Simmons contributed.