04-29-20 Homeless Task Force MinutesHomeless Task Force Meeting Minutes from 4/29/2020 meeting
Present:
Rod Kuntz, Gary Hall, Pastor Miriam Mauritzen, Jarod Nygren, Tom Rygg, Doug
Russell, Jim Atkinson
Call to Order:
Rod called the meeting to order at 11:01 AM, on Wednesday April 29, 2020 via Zoom
meeting.
Minutes:
Gary made a motion and Jim seconded to approve the April 15, 2020 meeting minutes.
Motion approved unanimous.
New Business:
Rod Update — Shelter has 28 people, 6 of them were one family. The family is working
on getting a hotel room. Shelter will remain open until through Phase 2. Once Phase 3
hits the shelter will start 30 day shutdown. Shelter still needs volunteers in the evening
and weekends.
S Year Plan takeways
Jarod: Is Flathead contributing to the increase in homelessness, or is increase transient?
There is 800 permanent housing units through Section 8, seems like a lot. Emphasis on
single point of entry and have we met that goal? Million Dollar Murray, cost of one
individual on the system.
Miriam: How many citizens/family units within the county live below the poverty line?
How many low-income housing units are available in the county?
What is the capacity of Mental Health Providers in the valley? Do we have enough
Mental Health Services -fully funded- to match our population size?
Jim: Single point - No wrong door seems counterproductive. Miriam indicated that
database is single point. Who monitors database? State?
Develop a care plan for individuals/family and walk them through resources and
discharge plan after gone through care plan. Stability is first priority. Housing is key to
stability. Parking meter idea in plan for fundraising.
Gary : Task force needs to find out who has the data from the single point entry to have in
our final report
Tom: Looked at from 30k feet. A lot changed since 2014. Housing looked at closely.
What about jobs, not everyone will be able to make it in Flathead. Budgets have changed
over last 6 years. Where are they today? Single point of entry important. What are the
housing numbers needed? Struggles with numbers in plan. Need to get services out when
needed, but seems to be long-term issues.
Will learn a lot about what's going on because of Covid-19. They are also learning from
each other (Rod). Lots of coordination.
Rod: Charity survey. How much is already being spent? Increase shelter space and
number of beds. Data doesn't support way to go. Increasing beds increases homelessness.
Overlooks problem. Need to solve problem. Want to build to meet the need, not
overbuild. Increase preventative measures (separate from housing). Budgets, substance
abuse, etc. Homeless connect - Need to expand and make a quarterly event. Once a year
too little. Will fill gaps before too late. Quarterly reports would be difficult because of
workload. Will require a leader/position to facilitate.
Scott (Via email):
For what it's worth, I wanted to share my "3 takeaways" from the 5-Year Plan document
on which we were to report today... I'm sure my comments are not ones already noted,
but for what it's worth...
1. I appreciated the expanded definition of homelessness on page 6 to include a more
broad set of categories. I wondered how we might help the community at large to
embrace such a definition and recognize a broader understanding of the situation.
2. The cost issue (page 12-13) is one that has always intrigued me (this and many other
public issues) ... that trying to "help" the problem costs much more in the long run
than the work required to effectively "fix" the problem.
3. And finally, I wanted to ask where is this "Flathead HIRE" project now? I found
what I think is the remnants of a website that had either been cleared of information
or never really utilized. The many goals set at the end of the document are good
ones. Was there ever any follow-up? Or did the project die on the vine?
In addition, something in the reading led me to look up poverty rates... once again,
you've probably seen this, but it bears repeating. Kalispell's rate of people living under
the federal poverty standard appears to be in the 17.2% range... Montana is in the mid
15%... and US overall is 12.5% to 13.1 %. We could ask what the reasons for Kalispell's
relatively high rate might be... Or what's being done to mitigate the situation (related to
point 2 above)
Adiourn: g 12:10