Hard Conversations – Collaborative Solutions
We began with a simple concept: help people without a warm safe place to live by offering a place for them to sleep during the coldest Montana weather. What we experienced was that without wraparound resources, these individuals struggled to identify and address the obstacles needed to move beyond homelessness.
Homelessness is a complex issue with tangled and complicated origins and no easy answers. As a community, it is imperative we work collaboratively to address the underlying causes of homelessness and tackle the hard conversations together. The following is intended to illuminate our experiences with these hard topics and begin an open dialogue and is not intended to be a complete list of all possible issues regarding homelessness.
Homeless people are lazy
A person with no safe shelter must spend available energy trying to survive. Where to find food, somewhere to get out of the biting cold. It becomes very hard to maintain a schedule of what day it is, let alone whether they have an appointment with a service provider and finding transportation to its location. It is hard to get out of homelessness.
Homeless people are violent criminals
A homeless individual is far more likely to be a victim of violence than a perpetrator of violence. A homeless individual is far more likely to be in danger than a housed one.
Trauma is a key experience that often leads to homelessness AND homelessness itself is traumatic!
The homeless are a burden on our community
By every meaningful measure, homelessness is a problem that proves to be more costly to ignore than to act. Unmet needs often come out sideways. A person who is cared for in their time of need should not be seen as a burden. According to a 2020 study done by the Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana, a sample expense tracker for a 67-year-old homeless man in Kalispell cost a total of $66,628, with nearly $58,000 – or 87% — falling under inpatient and emergency care. The man made 57 emergency department visits that year, at an expense estimated by Logan Health at $1,016 per visit.. Although his example is an outlier among the homeless population as a whole, the costs are average among the chronically homeless who require additional health and social services other than housing.
Working with homeless individuals to help them take steps to move beyond homelessness is therefore not only the more effective response, it is also the more fiscally responsible one.
Not every individual deserves the Warming Center
We agree. But isn’t that what it is all ABOUT? We take care of the vulnerable and those who have many significant challenges. We show them love and compassion and work to make them feel like a part of our community. When we bring people inside to warmth, safety and structure, our entire community is stronger and safer.
No one needs to deserve our services. Ours is not the role of judge and jury. Ours is a relationship of support and accountability to help our most vulnerable neighbors move beyond homelessness. The Warming Center is so much more about who we are as a community than about who they are. Who do we want to be?
Our community doesn’t care about the homeless. We just want them gone.
These are our neighbors. The idea that they go away if we don’t take care of them is inaccurate. We have a very compassionate community that is concerned about homelessness. We continue to receive an influx of support in terms of financial contributions as well as generous support of supplies and resources.
Most of the homeless people we are now seeing are not from the Flathead
We would not be ok with becoming the hub of homeless activity because we don’t have the resources to be so. We want and do focus on helping our neighbors. We have no indication of people moving here to be homeless. 75% have been in the Flathead for longer than the Warming Center has existed. They have some connection or tie to the Flathead and most have lived in the Flathead for greater than 5 years. These are our neighbors.
Why have a pet when you have no home?
Pets are like family and sometimes a person’s pet is the only family that they have. We removed this barrier to shelter and learned that pets are not a problem.
People should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps
Most everyone that we serve is struggling with illness, whether mental or physical illness, including drug or alcohol addiction. We are compassionate without enabling. We provide hope with accountability. Our guests sign an Occupancy Agreement every night they stay with us that outlines what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Guests not holding to our standards are asked to leave and depending on the severity of the transgression, are not allowed to come back for a defined period of time.
It’s not my problem.
Who’s problem is it? City? County? State? Law Enforcement? Non-profits? Churches? The courts? The ER?
The Answer is YES. It is everyone’s problem, and everyone must work together to develop a viable solution. We need a community collaborative effort to find a workable solution that may force us to consider things “outside the box.” Flathead Warming Center supports our local businesses and we do not condone irresponsible behavior that negatively impacts their buildings or their ability to conduct business. We provide hope with accountability.
Although well intended, facilities that offer only shelter, and no accountability, exacerbate the problem.
Our mission is not only to provide emergency shelter, but also to invite community resource providers onsite to work with our guests where they are. Building relationships has been proven to be key in helping guests move beyond homelessness. We have intentionally created processes and documentation that hold our guests accountable. Each night they must read and sign an Occupancy Agreement that outlines our expectations for them and the consequences if those expectations are not met. Once they stay with us for seven nights, each guest must meet with our Peer Specialist or our Licensed Addictions Counselor to work on their Roadmaps that help them identify incremental steps they can make each week to move closer to housing readiness.
More homeless people are “attracted” to our community because of the Flathead Warming Center.
While it is true that our community has experienced a growth in the homeless population, the data simply does not support that we have experienced a large increase of homeless people who do not have family or support ties to the Flathead Valley. The vast majority of our guests are not new to the area nor are they strangers to our community.
“Well-networked” transients are using smartphones and social media to come to the Flathead Warming Center for our homeless infrastructure and resources.
75% of our guests have been in the Flathead Valley for longer than the Warming Center has existed. When we identify individuals without ties here, we work with them to determine where they would have proper support and community ties. If we can confirm strong ties in other communities, we help individuals get bus passes to return them to the area they have the strongest support.
What has been the outcome of the Commissioner’s letter?
We have received a large outpouring of support from our community both in terms of monetary contributions as well as an increase in the number of volunteers. We have tried to engage in open dialogues with our county leaders. We have invited all of our County Commissioners to tour our facilities and learn more about what we do and who we work with.
What is the root cause of the increase of homelessness in the Flathead Valley?
The causes of homelessness are complex and difficult to address. Since 2017 when the State budget was cut dramatically for adult case management, we have seen an increase of people unable to stay housed due to mental illness and addiction. In the Flathead, we have a lack of appropriate mental health stabilization resources and detoxification spaces. We also have insufficient supportive and transitional housing and a significant lack of day services.
We believe we can be a part of the solution! We believe in building meaningful relationships between our guests and our community resources. We believe in building a sense of community in our guests, so they feel like a part of our neighborhoods. We believe in inviting community resources to come into the center and wrap around our guests.
We believe in working together to tackle complicated issues, we can provide workable solutions and help individuals along on their path beyond homelessness.
What can I do? What can my business do?
The Warming Center is not JUST about the homeless! We believe that by bringing people in off the streets and giving them a warm safe place to sleep, we are making our whole area safer and stronger. In so doing, we are determining who we are as a community.
Your business can consider becoming a Sponsor for our annual Soles of the Flathead gala. You can sponsor, prepare or even serve a meal to our guests. Your business can provide monetary support, but we also encourage our fellow professionals to become volunteers and learn the stories and struggles of our guests firsthand. Volunteering provides an opportunity for self-growth.
Other ways to get involved:
Become a Warming Center InnKeeper
Follow us on social media @flatheadwarmingcenter
Sign up for our Newsletter
Attend the next Real Conversation in the community
Volunteer in the center
Supplies are always needed – you can host a supply drive
Financial donations
