For almost nine years, 61-year-old Ed Lauman and his 34-year-old son have lived in a hotel room at the FairBridge Inn, Suites and Outlaw Convention Center just south of downtown Kalispell.
After suffering a stroke several years ago in addition to other injuries that prevent him from working, Lauman collects disability benefits that amount to about $800 a month while he cares for his disabled son, who suffers from a traumatic brain injury that left him with short-term memory loss.
Between both Lauman’s and his son’s benefits, they scrape together enough cash to pay $850 a month for a room at the FairBridge, which has two beds and a bathroom but lacks a kitchen.
But Feb. 12 will likely be their last day living at the hotel after FairBridge’s CEO, Steve Rice, sold the property to Fortify Holdings, LLC, where developers plan to transform the hotel into 250 studio apartments as part of a workforce housing project.
With a low rental vacancy rate in Kalispell, Lauman has nowhere to go once he and his son can longer rent at the FairBridge.
“There’s nothing out there,” Lauman said. “I’m on disability, my son’s on disability and there’s no subsidized rent in the whole valley … We have no options.”
Lauman and his son are two of an estimated 100 people in 64 rooms, including single mothers, disabled individuals and veterans, at the hotel who are now searching for housing and risk homelessness in the middle of winter.
At Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana (CAPNM), Executive Director Tracy Diaz is spearheading conversations with local organizations to help the individuals and families who were given a 30-day notice to vacate the hotel.
“Our biggest concern is we don’t have the availability to transition them into housing in that 30-day window,” Diaz said.
After surveying 11 residents at the hotel, only three people had a plan for housing arrangements, Diaz said. One person planned to move into short-term housing in Kalispell, another is moving into a Motel 6, which is double FairBridge’s rate, and another is leaving the Flathead Valley.
At the end of January, Diaz organized a meeting that included the developers who are in the process of closing on the property, local nonprofits, elected officials and representation from the state and the city of Kalispell, to brainstorm potential solutions to prevent homelessness of the current tenants.
Since the Kalispell Planning Board approved the project in mid-January, Cameron Wagar, a Fortify Holdings’ project manager for the new proposed development, has been working with the community to help the current guests, which included a written request to the current owner to extend the notice to 90 days to allow more time to find housing.
“Giving the tenants 30 days to find housing in a market that is over-stressed for low-income housing creates an extremely difficult situation for these residents … The timing of this transition could have been, and should have been, more thoughtfully addressed,” the letter to Rice said.
At Fortify Holdings, developers say they have worked on multiple projects that convert hotels into apartments across the Pacific Northwest, but Wagar says the hotels have historically been vacant when they are purchased.
“This was a surprise,” Wagar said. “The contract has been under agreement since the first week of September and we didn’t know there were tenants in the north building until the end of October.”
But Rice, who is based out of Coeur d’Alene, says that since the property is a hotel and not long-term housing, the guests should have no issues finding other hotels to stay in during the shoulder season.
“It’s not an eviction nor are there tenants,” Rice said. “This is a hotel and the hotel has been sold. At this time there is no shortage of hotel rooms.”
Diaz at CAPNM says most of the people currently staying in the FairBridge can’t afford the rates at other hotels, which cost twice as much per month. While there is some funding to help families temporarily, she says there’s not enough for the volume of people who need a place to stay.
“Temporarily, we can use some shelter dollars for hotel sheltering, but I don’t think the availability is there for $1,600 a month,” Diaz said. “Our funding is last resort funding,” Diaz said.
At the Samaritan House, Executive Director Chris Krager is working to create additional temporarily shelter at both of the homeless campuses in Kalispell but he’s still working on the details with the city, which he says should be finalized before Feb. 12.
“The Samaritan House has the ability to help in one way or another,” Krager said. “I do want to say we can help. I don’t know if we can help everybody, but it’s my goal to not see any people outside.”
As local leaders work to create temporary shelter, Diaz says most of the guests aren’t receiving clarity about move-out dates and many do not currently have options once Feb. 12 arrives.
“A lot of elderly, disabled people and children have no place to go,” Lauman said.
“The city and the county need to get together and set some housing up for people with low income,” Lauman added.