Seeking solutions, not blame
Homelessness is an issue that is affecting local families, seniors, and individuals with severely disabling conditions who have faced a crisis of medical emergencies, being priced out of rentals, and not being able to access the very limited resources available to them.
As the local continuum of care to end homelessness, a collaborative of local agencies, businesses and community members that are working to help these neighbors, we too are concerned about the recent rise in the issues around Kalispell’s Depot Park. We agree that it is important to ask these neighbors to be accountable and we also believe it is critical that we work together to find solutions.
We believe the issues at Depot and Woodland Park are isolated to a smaller group of unhoused neighbors and we think that it is important for the community to not stigmatize all homeless individuals as being the cause of these problems. Beyond this population, we are actively assisting clients who are working to address their addictions, fiscal challenges, and emergencies via our shelters, services and programs. Our data clearly shows a vast majority of the population struggling with housing and homelessness are mostly local or Montanans from our neighboring communities.
We are going to be emphasizing that this is our community’s responsibility to find local solutions to these issues in a joint effort. We know through our conversations and work that many Flathead citizens are concerned and we want to work together to address the crisis. We are dealing with the consequences of long-standing problems that have been exacerbated by the last couple of hard years and our community’s rapid growth.
We feel strongly that if we do not find ways to come together as a community to address these issues then they will only continue to grow. We agree that enabling is not the right path for those in need, or for our community, and we would encourage anyone critical of our programs to see that we are working toward finding solutions to these challenging problems. We would be happy to talk and debate these solutions, but we would encourage a healthy, constructive conversation rather than simply blaming the existing services or those affected by homelessness.
Winter is a serious health event in Montana. We are disheartened to see our fellow human beings suffering and we encourage work to find compassionate solutions. We invite all who support our work to join us in finding solutions to improve our local resources, housing, and treatment opportunities. We are working to find community-based supportive services for those with mental health and substance abuse struggles.
Most importantly we are working to make sure that our neighbors don’t die on the streets of Kalispell. We invite you to join us in working on this solution, and not spend valuable time and energy blaming those in need for creating the social and economic problems they are facing.
Executive Board of Collaborative Housing Solutions 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); Cinnamon Davis (CHS executive committee, Veteran’s Food Pantry).