Letter to Flathead Valley Residents Public Comment from Collaborative Housing Solutions of NW MTFebruary 241", 2023
Dear Flathead Valley Neighbors,
We will not be addressing the Kalispell City Council in their next work session. The measure of a
community is how we treat those most in need. Homelessness is a growing crisis that is currently
dividing our community into bits and pieces. This crisis is intensifying every day due to the lack of
adequate housing, and substance abuse and behavioral health treatment services.
Our community is looking to our local leaders for real solutions. Creating more or expanding current city
ordinances are not real solutions to a potential sinkhole. Without adequate resources to hold individuals
accountable, ticketing for ordinance violations will not address the serious and multi -faceted issues in
our community. What good is creating and expanding ordinances when we can't fully enforce the ones
we have already?
Social service providers in the Flathead have been working collaboratively on the front lines, powering
through very difficult years of unprecedented numbers of homegrown Montanans needing help. Each
and every battle we fight, we have pleaded for our leaders to join us at the table for real solutions to the
crisis that we are all facing in our community. Our work is only made harder by policies and letters that
seem intent on diminishing the efforts of dedicated professionals, and, more importantly, making it
more difficult, and even dangerous, for those who struggle on the streets.
Commonly, we hear that it is not the role of the government to address homelessness, and we elect
government officials to protect, care, and serve the people of Flathead Valley. We encourage our
leaders to remember that all residing in the Flathead Valley are a part of their commitment to protect
and serve. We challenge our leaders to be open to new ideas, join us at the table, and face the root
causes of this crisis. Every other major city across the state is working with their local providers and
creating solutions that meet their community's most dire needs. We believe that hand -in -hand we can
solve this together.
In the meantime, you can find us in our offices, and diligently working together out in the community to
serve the people that are lost, hard to help, and forgotten by their fellow Montanan.
Sincerely,
Executive Board of Collaborative Housing Solutions (CHS) of NW Montana
Sean Patrick O'Neill (CHS—Chair; Community Action Partnership)
Morgan Winchester (CHS—Co-Chair; Samaritan House)
Casey Driscoll (CHS—Secretary; School District 5/Heart Locker)
Tonya Horn (CHS—Executive Committee; Flathead Warming Center)
Rachel Bellesen (CHS—Executive Committee; Abbie Shelter)