BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — The Interfaith Sanctuary in Boise is looking at setting up shop in a new location on State Street.

On Wednesday night, Sanctuary staff took questions from the public to address any concerns. Nearly 300 people attended the virtual meeting. Many people had concerns about what a new homeless shelter on State Street would mean for their neighborhoods.

But before plans for the new shelter can be approved, Interfaith Sanctuary will need to submit a development application to the City of Boise. In order to do that, it must first host a meeting between staff and neighbors in the proposed area.

To kick things off, staff introduced some neighbors from its current location on River Street.

"We never really have any issues,” Patrick said. “If we do end up with something, it's very easily taken care of. I end up calling the shelter."

But not everyone looks kindly at having a homeless shelter next door. One person asked about the environmental impact of large amounts of homeless living in one area.

"I couldn't speak to that in this new area,” said Jodi Peterson-Stigers, executive director of Interfaith Sanctuary. “I'm not sure, but I will certainly find out."

Because of the pandemic, Interfaith Sanctuary had to move its seniors and medically fragile guests to hotels. It hopes this project will allow enough space to bring everyone into one facility.

Staff at Sanctuary said the new facility will provide shelter for 72 families in its family dorms, 37 people in its medical dorms, 150 men and 72 women in its emergency shelter dorms. Still, there's resistance from the community, with some wondering what it would take for Interfaith to not move forward with this project in this neighborhood.

"Interfaith Sanctuary believes that this is the right place to do this project and we believe that we'll be good neighbors," Peterson-Stigers said.

Although staff admits that the project may disrupt the normal flow of the neighborhood, they insist that 24/7 staffing will work to quickly address any problems.

Interfaith Sanctuary reminded attendees that this is not a done deal and that it's still working on all the necessary steps to receive approval for the proposed project.