By Molly Balison
Cassidy Landry’s Ford Escape was her safe haven for nine months. In 2019, she became homeless as a result of domestic violence and the loss of her job. Coming from Texas, she knew few people and had little to no knowledge about resources in the area.
The first night she climbed into her makeshift bed in the backseat of her car, she cried more than she slept.
“The day I became homeless I was in denial,” Landry said, “I thought: I am smart, nice and good, how could this happen to me?”
When the sun rose the next day, so did Landry’s motivation. She researched every resource and made a list that branched into a tree of services.
“You have to do things you normally wouldn’t do or never thought you would do to survive. It takes a physical and mental toll.”
When surviving out of her car, Landry lived off of food stamps and a $10 gas voucher. She said she has no idea what she would do if the Boise Police Department fined her $10 whenever they found her lingering in a parking lot.
Idaho’s new anti-camping law — formerly known as SB 1141 — makes survival like Landry’s illegal in hopes that safety and sanitation will improve.
“This law could have destroyed my chance to rebuild. Instead of being arrested or fined, I got help. Idaho provided resources that allowed me to get stable housing and rebuild my life. That is how I know that criminalizing homelessness is not the answer,” Landry wrote on her change.org page where her petition against SB 1141 reached almost 1,000 signatures.
She created a 30 page proposal full of research and ideas to launch an incentive program to help displaced individuals get back on their feet to present to the state to amend the bill in the next legislative session. Landry said that if her program was piloted for 100 individuals over 24 months. It would cost the city of Boise 1.8 million dollars which she believes the city could have the budget for.
“Regardless of how smart you are and how educated you are, when you go through homelessness and a career gap…in reality it causes a hindrance to get back on your feet,” she said
Landry’s lived experience fueled her motivation to start a nonprofit, Resource Link Idaho. It’s an online one stop shop for all the resources an individual in need could ask for. She created the resource she wished she had when she hit the lowest point of her life in hopes that someone else can have a better chance at survival.