Kalispell City Council to take second look at homeless shelter’s permit

Kalispell City Council moved Monday to review the Flathead Warming Center’s conditional use permit at a forthcoming work session.

Councilor Chad Graham requested the measure during discussion of the municipality’s homeless residents at the tail end of Council’s April 1 meeting. Citing conversations with business owners and residents near the North Meridian Road overnight homeless shelter, Graham asked his colleagues to investigate complaints about the low-barrier facility and its patrons. 

There is a new normal in the neighborhood, he said and that includes “things like being spit on in the face, loitering in front of businesses and on sidewalks, screaming, threatening actions, pounding on doors and windows, feces on front doorsteps of homes and businesses, sleeping on property, escorting customers to and from their front door at times and many other unacceptable things.”

Graham, who recalled joining in with the rest of Council in voting to approve the shelter’s conditional use permit in 2020, said promises made then had gone unfulfilled. 

“What was presented [then] is not the current environment that this neighborhood is experiencing,” he said. “There has been a negative impact to the neighborhood.”

Graham said he wanted the future work session to focus on five areas touched upon in the center's application materials for the conditional use permit: an increase in homelessness in the neighborhood, loitering, responsiveness and accountability on the part of the Warming Center, an increase in police calls, and that the shelter would serve the Kalispell community.

He suggested Council follow up on the work session with a public hearing open to residents of the neighborhood. Business owners in the area have grown afraid to discuss publicly their concerns and experiences, Graham said.

“I know that many businesses fear speaking out on the impact in their neighborhood for fear of backlash and shaming,” he said. “This truly places them between a rock and hard place.”

Mayor Mark Johnson agreed that a work session was warranted and could prove fruitful. While there are tools available to help lift residents out of homelessness that Council could discuss, “there are expectations community-wide that aren’t being lived up to,” he said. 

Councilor Jeff Fisher expressed support, but requested that any public hearing on the matter be open to all residents of Kalispell, not just those living in the North Meridian Road corridor. 

“We represent everyone,” he said. “This is a large thing that we need to listen to everybody that is being affected, even beyond that area.”

THE REQUEST by Graham, who led last year’s effort to crack down on panhandling within city limits, followed remarks by Fisher and Councilors Ryan Hunter and Sid Daoud on how the city could best address homelessness. Daoud, a libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate, called for a summertime census of the homeless population – nonprofits count homeless residents each winter – and an effort by Council to better connect people with services. 

Right now, he said, city agencies like the Kalispell Police Department shuffle homeless people from one part of the community to another. 

“I’d like to see if we can figure out any other solution that will help reduce that population,” Daoud said. “Maybe there are some services that are missing that could take some of these people that are in jeopardy off the street.”

Hunter echoed Daoud’s suggestion and pointed out that Collaborative Housing Solutions of Northwest Montana, a coalition of agencies providing social services, had recently completed a plan to tackle homelessness. Hunter said he supported the city following suit. 

“I want to recognize that homelessness in our community has a negative impact. We’re all seeing it,” Hunter said, citing garbage, drug use and criminal activity. “You will find that in every community that has a homeless problem. We’re not unique in that way. … There is no easy solution.”

AS FOR Graham’s request, City Manager Doug Russell said that staff could plan on making the Flathead Warming Center’s conditional use permit the topic of a work session in May. He also sought clarification on what Graham was hoping to see happen at the session. 

“We’re talking about a conditional use permit that’s been issued,” he said. “I want everyone to be aware.”

While a work session discussion struck Russell as fine, he warned anything further would “probably take it into that quasi-judicial arena.” He also indicated he would contact officials at the shelter in advance.

That prompted Hunter to ask whether Council was heading toward trying to revoke the center’s conditional use permit. 

“I won’t support that,” Hunter said. 

Graham said seeking the revocation of the conditional use permit was not predetermined. He said he wants to hear from neighbors about their experiences with the overnight shelter. 

“I want what I was told [in 2020] to be true,” Graham said. “I went through and I made a decision based off of what I was told and I want it adhered to.”