homeless shelters Public Comment from Dorothea LeDonne Aimee Brunckhorst
From: Dorothea LeDonne <thealedonne963@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 3, 2024 4:40 PM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject: EXTERNAL homeless shelters
I lived in Portland Oregon and watched it ruined by the homeless shelters and encampments bringing in more and more
homeless people by word of mouth into the city. Businesses were damaged. Neighborhoods that once were safe
became dangerous and were literally destroyed. The homeless defecated and urinated on the streets when I was there
and now the problem has become more severe. There is more and more trash on the streets, sidewalks, parks, and
lawns of homeowners. Areas of the city now smell of human waste. As the homeless population grew,they took on
more and more of the attitude that they had the right to be there and became more demanding of anyone walking by to
give them money. They opening do drugs. The threats and anger of the homeless impacts all but especially women as
well as the elderly.
Providing homeless people with shelters does not help them. We have businesses all over the flathead needing
employees. The homeless living on the streets and flooding the shelters have absolutely no motivated to work.
Homelessness has increasingly become a lifestyle choice for many of them. Living on our streets or in shelters is highly
correlated with begging for money which only serves to support their addictions and increases the danger in our
communities. The fewer shelters,the fewer homeless. The only way to motivate the homeless to get jobs is to close the
shelters and force them off the streets.
When Residents and council members try to save their communities from the damage caused by the homeless,they are
shamed. Please stand your ground. These good hearted people who think they are helping are only hurting those they
seek to help and ruining community after community where hard working people some of which work multiple jobs
reside. Anyone who truly researches homelessness realizes that they must close the shelters and force the homeless
off the streets. When I lived in very liberal Boulder and this is what was done. The encampments were closed and the
homeless were forced off the streets and driven out of town. I have not lived there for many years but all of the
residents were relieved as more and more of the homeless had become aggressive. I would urge you to contact Boulder.
They created a solution by leveraging resources to effect as many of them leaving permanently. Liberal Portland did the
opposite and it is ruined.
i