Flathead County Commissioners Blame Shelters and Homeless Network for Rise in Homelessness

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ADRIAN KNOWLER Daily Inter Lake

Flathead County commissioners released a letter Thursday criticizing homeless-serving organizations and calling on residents to refuse homeless help or support.

In the letter to county residents, signed by commissioners Pam Holmquist, Brad Abell and Randy Brodehl, the trio say nonprofits that serve the homeless have led to an increase in homelessness in the Valley. . They argue that charities and individuals who provide cash or other forms of support to homeless people are also contributing to a distressing problem.

If we continue to allow the homeless population, then these numbers will increase, reads the letter.

The commissioners call it a simple truth that shelters are pushing homeless people to migrate to the area, although they didn’t provide any evidence in the letter to back up that claim. The commissioners did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

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They pointed to a correlation between opening a low-barrier shelter and a dramatic increase in homelessness. Although not specifically named, the Flathead Warming Center which opened in 2020 is the only low barrier shelter in the community.

They further claim that a progressive network is conspiring to bring in other homeless people from elsewhere, again without providing any evidence.

County Administrator Pete Melnick said Friday that commissioners are making statements about well-connected vagrants based on evidence provided by Whitefish Police Chief Bridger Kelch.

Kelch also did not respond to requests to provide evidence to support the allegations.

The letter comes just days after Kalispell city officials closed the Depot Park gazebo and the Woodland Park pavilion to the public after receiving complaints from residents about a concentrated presence of homeless people in the parks.

Tonya Horn, director of the Flathead Warming Center, said the letter was grossly misinformed about the causes of homelessness and the origins of the county’s homeless population. Horn conducted surveys at the shelter and said the results show nearly all of their clients are from the Flathead Valley.

They have opinions that they present as facts, Horn said of the commissioners. These are the kinds of opinions that really hurt our efforts to help our neighbours.

Horn offered several offers to the commissioners to visit the shelter, as well as to sit down with them to inform them of the underlying issues and the warming centers’ efforts to help them.

She said she had not received a response to her invitations. In the letter, the commissioners wrote that they believe tough conversations solve tough problems.

Commissioners also called on Flathead residents to make this networked homeless community realize that enough is enough.

Horn said she feared the commissioners’ request would further endanger the safety of homeless people and that if her clients read the letter, they would feel targeted and desperate.

She said she doesn’t think the letter represents the majority of communities’ feelings, pointing to shelter donations and volunteer rates as evidence.

Kalispell Councilman Ryan Hunter felt the letter was miss the mark.

I think he’s incredibly uninformed and lacks basic empathy and compassion for our neighbors, Hunter said.

Increases in housing prices and rents are to blame for the rise in homelessness, Hunter said.

As elected officials, it is incumbent on us to educate ourselves on these issues by talking to experts, instead of going on preconceived ideas, he said.

Hunter said the claim that homeless people move significantly through the area is a persistent myth.

Horn and other experts believe the solution requires supportive housing, which would match chronically homeless people with social workers who can help them deal with mental health and addictions challenges, as well as put a roof over their heads.

Hunter said he would like to see Kalispell donate downtown parking lots to nonprofits to build permanent, supportive, deed-restricted affordable housing.

When asked if any policies or proposals were in the works, Melnick said commissioners were not working on solutions to address homelessness in the Valley.

Journalist Adrian Knowler can be reached at [email protected].

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