Flathead Warming Center Reports Steady Demand and Need for Community Collaboration

Flathead Warming Center staff at a May 13 meeting presented to board members an end-of-season report for the 50-bed, low-barrier homeless shelter, which highlighted successes that included fostering better relationships with neighbors in the aftermath of a lawsuit settlement with the City of Kalispell amid rising chronic homelessness.

While the demand for services remained high during the season, which runs from October through May, Warming Center staff said they remained committed to ensuring their client’s basic needs were met as they built relationships and connected them to resources.

This season, 23 guests were connected to long-term housing and 10 were connected to inpatient treatment, according to staff.

But despite the successes, the Warming Center was met with challenges this year after the City of Kalispell in October rescinded the facility’s conditional use permit following widespread complaints from neighbors. The revocation delayed the shelter’s opening by a month before a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction, which allowed the Warming Center to remain open until court proceedings concluded.

The City of Kalispell and the Flathead Warming Center in February reached an agreement, which the city council ratified in March. The agreement requires continued communication between the Warming Center staff and the city, a quarterly in-person board meeting open to the public and an official apology from the city to Flathead Warming Center Director Tonya Horn.

“I want us to turn the page,” Horn said. “I don’t want the work to be adversarial – I want us all to work together. That’s the only way things will get better.”

In the lawsuit’s aftermath, Warming Center staff have been working to address issues like trash cleanup, communication, building relationships with neighbors and transportation.

Horn said the organization is working to improve transportation in and out of the area as issues with the Mountain Climber – Flathead County’s public transportation system – continues to limit services.

“It really cut us off at the knees when we lost transportation,” Horn said. “This past winter was our first time without transportation.”

To address the limited mobility, Horn said the Warming Center applied for a grant that would fund a vehicle and a driver who would also work as a case manager to help transport guests to things like appointments seven days per week.

“Our vision is we want to have a driver, and we want to have a case manager with peer support – someone that has some training that can go with the person to appointments,” Horn said.

To address the widespread complaints regarding litter in the neighborhood, Program Director Ray Young launched a care team and cleanup patrol where he and roughly 12 guests pick up trash twice per week.

The Warming Center is also working to foster relationships with neighbors after many complained to the city that the shelter caused a concentration of homeless individuals in the North Meridian Road area. Young said the communication component has been key to improving relationships and he said some neighbors and business owners have started to change their perspectives.

“My goal is to keep building community relationships and talk to as many people and neighbors as I can,” Young said.

Despite a shorter season this this year, Resource Manager Sean Patrick O’Neill said the Warming Center served 315 individuals, which is down slightly compared to 324 people during the 2023-2024 season.

Of those 315 people, O’Neill said 82 were identified as chronically homeless, meaning they had a disabling condition, they’ve been homeless for at least one year or they’ve been homeless at least 12 months over the past three years over four separate episodes.  

“So, 82 out of 315 is a little alarming to me, mostly because we only have 50 beds here and those folks are extremely vulnerable,” O’Neill said.

According to annual Point-in-Time Count (PIT) survey data, which is a nationwide method of counting the homeless population on a certain date in January, the homeless population in Kalispell has fluctuated despite a dramatic increase statewide.

“We have had a conundrum of numbers,” O’Neill said.

In 2022, surveys counted 319 homeless individuals in Kalispell compared to 324 the same year in Missoula, which led the state’s homeless population. Of those 319 homeless individuals, 47% were chronically homeless.

Statewide, Montana’s homeless population grew 550% from 2007 to 2023, ranking No. 1 in the nation as the most drastic increase.

While data in recent years reveals a dramatic increase, this year’s PIT survey counted only 154 individuals, which O’Neill attributes to the negative public sentiment surrounding homelessness.

“Homeless folks did not want to do these surveys anymore,” O’Neill said. “They did not feel comfortable identifying themselves anymore.”

Although the data likely does not accurately represent the homeless population, O’Neill said 58% of the individuals who were counted have a disabling condition. Of the 315 guests who stayed at the Warming Center during this past season, a significant portion of individuals were in vulnerable age groups, with 21 clients over age 65 while 19 were between ages 18 and 25.

As chronic homelessness persists, Horn described the need for community collaboration and mental health resources that can provide crisis stabilization – a resource that disappeared in the years following Legislative budget cuts in 2017.

“We have seen chronic homeless numbers go up, but we’ve seen the resources go down and because of that, we have seen crisis played out over and over in public spaces,” Horn said.

Horn emphasized the need for wraparound services in the Flathead Valley, which includes resources like case management and crisis stabilization that has historically helped prevent homelessness for some mentally ill individuals.

“People need a place to go to get well, and we don’t have the appropriate places in our community,” Horn said. “It’s sad and it’s tragic. What’s happening is we are all passing these people around. Law enforcement will pass them around. We pass them around. The hospital passes them out the door and it’s a sad state of where we are in the community.”

“It’s like watching people drown,” Horn added.

The Flathead Warming Center is located at 889 N. Meridian Road and is now operating day service hours through September on Mondays and Thursdays from noon to 7 p.m. Showers, laundry and a light meal are available.

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