04-15-20 Homeless Task Force MinutesHomeless Task Force Meeting Minutes from 4/15/2020 meeting
Present:
Rod Kuntz, Gary Hall, Pastor Scott Thompson, Pastor Miriam Mauritzen, Jarod Nygren, Tom
Rygg
(Fall to Order!
Rod called the meeting to order at 11:01 PM, on Wednesday April 1, 2020 via Zoom meeting.
Minutes:
Scott made a motion and Gary seconded to approve the April 1, 2020 meeting minutes. Motion
approved unanimous.
New R»cinecc!
Section 8 Housing — Do not have the number of units yet. Jarod has reached out to a local housing
professional and hopes to hear soon. Section 8 housing has a typical tenant lease, evictions would
typically be for non-payment, lease violations, drug use, damage to property, etc. All evictions
have to follow general laws for doing so. Service animals are allowed, and some leases may allow
pets. Section 8 housing requires an annual inspection for safety reasons.
Covid Shelter Update — Tent is setup. City of Kalispell has an Ordinance that would temporarily
allow the shelter for their consideration on April 20. All privately funded right now. CAP is
working on funding and City could potentially go after money through grants if available.
Homeless community needs to be part of the Planning of facilities such as this, especially if the
emergency segues into a more permanent solution. Originally the shelter was hoping to serve 50-
80 persons, now at 25-30, which is only 15% of 200 (unsheltered), which is not enough in
emergency. There is a trust (damaged because United Way) issue with the homeless population.
If trust is built the Samaritan House could become a place where the entire homeless population
can come, where the community could accurately understand the homeless population numbers.
Scott mentioned a similar place in Chandler Arizona that could serve as a template.
County 5-year Plan? Need to look at it and see what we can do better. Reach out to Chris K. and
get his thoughts on the plan since he has been working on it. Task force needs to read the 5-year
plan and come back with three takeaways for the next meeting.
Response Initiative (Matt Turner)— Gary mentioned that the initiative included $2,000 of $50 gift
cards. Churches and business are involved but there is a need for people to pass them out. Gary
will try and get some gift cards to pass out to those in need.
Adjourn:
Gary Moved and Miriam seconded a motion to adjourn at 11:40. Motion approved unanimous.