The homeless conversation Public Comment from Tonya Horn, Flathead Warming CenterAimee Brunckhorst
From: Flathead Warming Center FWC <flatheadwarmingcenter@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, February 6, 2023 10:31 AM
To: Kalispell City Council
Subject: EXTERNAL The homeless conversation
Dear City Council,
Hello. I will not be present tonight.
I have not heard many people suggest that you should not pass the ordinances. What I believe is
that the majority wants more to happen to address the underlying issues.
I have shared with you what I believe the underlying issues are. I see mental health and addiction
issues! I also see individuals who repeatedly are NOT held accountable for their behaviors in our
community. I am going to keep saying it. We do NOT have the resources in our community for
individuals to be well. We do not have a path in our community right now for involuntary
commitment for those who need it. We should all be very concerned. We keep passing these
individuals around. This is expensive. We are not holding people accountable for behaviors in the
community. This is dangerous.
It is a person's behavior that determines their stay inside the Warming Center. If they cannot
follow the Occupancy Agreement, they cannot stay. When someone is asked to leave they are
given a Non -Return Status (NRS). The number of nights the individual must be gone is based on
the infraction, as clearly defined in our behavior policy, to include a NRS for the remainder of the
season. Our guests are held accountable for their behaviors inside the Warming Center.
I recently pulled our NRS statistics for this season. Right now, we currently have 14 individuals out
on a NRS who have the opportunity to return and try again. Of the 14, we evaluate 12 struggle
with co-occurring mental health and addiction, 1 struggles with just mental health, and 1 struggles
with just addiction.
Right now we have 19 individuals out on an NRS for the entire season. Based on these individual's
behaviors, they may not return to the Warming Center. I looked over the list of 19 names. Of the
19, we evaluate 10 struggle with co-occurring mental health and addiction (and four of these 10
also struggle with developmental disabilities), 4 struggle with addiction, 3 struggle with mental
illness without substances, 2 are unknown because they were not with us long enough for us to
best understand.
Of these 14 and 19 individuals, I would dare to guess several are indeed displaying poor behavior
without accountability in our community.
We can not control that and it is OVERWHELMING to believe that we are looked to as the cause
and result of homelessness in our community!
In my experience with the Warming Center, many of these individuals are not held accountable in
our community for their behaviors. Just this past Friday night, a mentally ill individual was
standing out in the middle of Meridian, cussing at passengers, and throwing items at cars that
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drove by. Warming Center staff called dispatch. KPD stopped in the road next to the individual,
did not get out, spoke briefly through the patrol car window, and left the individual standing in
front of the Warming Center. I do not blame KPD. Where are they supposed to take the
individual? What is KPD supposed to do? The individual could not return to the Warming Center.
(This is just one example of many.)
It is important to note... people are not being held accountable in our community. Law
enforcement has such limited tools and the detention center is full! Even if a person gets into jail,
they are often immediately released. And, our detention center has very limited resources inside
the jail! A community that does not hold people accountable loses control, enables poor
behavior and blames others for the outcome.
Thank you to each council member and the Mayor who has reached out and asked questions. We
are not on opposing teams. Please help to keep the conversation moving forward.
We work with our guests to gain the tools and resources needed to move beyond homelessness.
To create an additional sense of urgency, we do a 100 night countdown to the end of April, when
we close for overnight shelter. Tonight, we have just 84 nights until the last night in April. As we
do all year long, we are strongly encouraging each guest to press forward, partner with us, and
use the resources that come inside the Warming Center to have a safe and productive plan come
May. It is heartbreaking, the potential for many of our guests to have a roof over their heads
come May is not great at all.
I speak for myself and for the staff at the Warming Center, we cannot do what we do year round,
especially without the resources in ur community that we need to do our jobs!
However, for as much as a certain crowd mistakenly believes that the Warming Center should
not exist, what is going to happen come May when we close our doors for overnight shelter??? At
that point, we will likely be blamed for being closed! I believe you understand being in a
position where you just can't win; darn if you do, and darn if you don't.
Please take a few minutes each week to catch-up on our Facebook page. We have been posting
and will continue to post facts, especially about our services.
And PLEASE keep the conversations going!
Please reach out to our legislators!
Bob Keenan is the Chair of the DPHHS oversight committee. He can be reached at
bob@bobkeenan.us
Thank you.
Tanya Horn
Executive Director
Flathead Warming Center
(406) 250-8652
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