Kalispell shelter closure will leave homeless in the cold: ‘I expect people to die’

Montana service providers say the closure of the Flathead Warming Center, the valley's winter-only overnight homeless shelter, could leave more people in Kalispell sleeping in the cold while stressing capacity levels at other shelters in western Montana.

The Kalispell City Council on Sept. 16 revoked a permit to run the warming center, which sleeps 50 people from October to April.

Residents at the meeting said the shelter has caused problems for the surrounding neighborhood and businesses. They argued eliminating the shelter would mean that homeless people would stop coming to Kalispell for services.

Don Johnson, a resident near the shelter, reported that increased drug use and other issues have affected him and his neighbors.

"This is just unbelievable to me. My neighborhood has gone to pot, literally," Johnson said.

The shelter is one of two in the Flathead Valley. But city leaders and service providers said the other, called Samaritan House, is already at capacity most nights.

Tonya Horn, who had served as executive director of the now-closed Flathead Warming Center, said she co-founded the facility in the fall of 2019. The nonprofit is funded solely through donations and does not get local tax funding.

Horn said she opened the shelter because of a need for a warm space in the community. Prior to its opening, Horn said she remembered seeing homeless people sleeping in the lobby of the local police station during the winter.

With the closing of the shelter, more homeless people in the Flathead will be at the mercy of the winter elements, Horn said.

"I think it will be very tragic. I expect people to die," Horn told the Missoulian. "The Flathead is their home."

Horn said last winter, 92% of the shelter's 324 guests either lived in the Flathead Valley for more than a year or had a significant tie to the community, such as a family member.

And despite the public outcry, point-and-time counts of the homeless have decreased in Kalispell. Roughly 200 people were counted in 2024, compared to 314 in 2022, according to figures provided by the city.

Many people served by the shelter will not leave the valley to find other resources, she said, and instead will search for warmth at businesses and other public-facing facilities.

"This isn't a solution for the homeless community, but it sure will not be the solution for neighbors," Horn said.

Left in the cold

While the loss of the Flathead Warming Center could force some homeless people from Kalispell to seek shelter services in nearby cities, Missoula providers are more concerned those people will just be left out in the cold.

"The majority of people who are homeless and living in the Flathead Valley are from the Flathead Valley, even at higher numbers than other places in the state," said Jill Bonny, the executive director of the Poverello Center who also runs the Johnson Street Shelter. "I don't think people are going to travel down to Missoula or Butte as quickly as maybe they would from another location. I just think they are going to see people outside, which is unfortunate."

People being left to the elements used to be common in Missoula when the Poverello would reach its maximum capacity during winter cold snaps.

People would have to be turned away, Bonny said, with their next best option to stay warm being an emergency room lobby or a gas station.

Before the Johnson Street Shelter opened in the fall of 2020, adding 180 beds to Missoula's shelter capacity, several homeless people died from the cold in Missoula each year. Local leaders at times had to band together to try and get people indoors during the cold snaps.

Other smaller Montana cities have faced homeless deaths from cold weather as well.

In winter 2021, a Hamilton man died as he tried to walk from the Bitterroot Valley to Missoula to seek services. That led a Hamilton woman to open a winter shelter in the area.

"It takes a toll on the entire community," Bonny said.

Brayton Erickson, the executive director of Butte Rescue Mission, said the emergency shelter in the Mining City has already been at capacity each night. The 56-bed facility operates on a first-come, first-served basis, and is a nonprofit largely funded through donations.

While more than 75% of the people they serve are from Butte, Erickson said sometimes folks from other cities come too, such as Helena, Anaconda, or Great Falls, usually through local connections.

He said the notion that closing the Flathead shelter will keep homeless people out of the Flathead Valley is not true, as most homeless people he sees in Montana have connections to the place they're living.

"It is inaccurate, misguided thinking," Erickson said. "If you don't provide someone in the community a place to go, then what you are doing is creating more problems."

He said crime can increase as people are more desperate for a meal or a warm building to stay in. In Butte, he's seen homeless people break into abandoned buildings to try to find cover from the cold.

Last Flathead shelter standing

One shelter remains open in the Flathead Valley to serve the homeless community. Kalispell's Samaritan House has capacity for 105 people, but can "flex, flow and squeeze" to fit more, according to Executive Director Chris Krager.

"We're lucky because we are operating out of an old Army munitions barrack, so there is a lot of space," Krager said.

The shelter has existed for more than 25 years and has also operated low-income rental units and other housing services. He said the need for shelter space in the Flathead Valley has increased as the area has become less affordable.

Krager described the Flathead Warming Center and the Samaritan House as "apples to oranges."

"But a good, healthy community needs a lot of fruits in its basket," Krager said.

The increased cost of housing in the Flathead Valley, where an average home is up to $579,000 as of September, has made finding a multi-family apartment or housing for veterans especially difficult, he said.

And while the Samaritan House recently broke ground on two apartment complexes for low-income families and veterans, neither will be completed in time for this winter.

Permitting problems

Kalispell's city council voted 6-3 on Sept. 16 to revoke the Flathead Warming Center's permit, with many of the councilors arguing that the negative effects of the shelter violated the original permit awarded by the city.

Councilors and members of the public cited problems with the homeless people defecating in public, drug use, loitering and committing other various crimes.

Data compiled by the city shows calls to the shelter and a surrounding half-mile radius in the winter increased by 123% between 2021 and 2023. Citywide calls increased by 51%.

When the shelter is closed in the warm months, the proportion of calls for service by Kalispell Police dipped below the citywide average.

The city had several mediation meetings between the shelter and the neighbors, but no solution was found. Residents allege the shelter never worked with them to hold homeless people accountable.

Since the shelter was allowed through a conditional use permit, several councilors also said the shelter was violating its conditions and should be shut down.

"Has the conditional use had a negative impact on the neighborhood?" Councilor and Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Sid Daoud questioned at the meeting. "Since looking into this question and the evidence found and presented, I must answer that question with a 'yes.'"

Not everyone on the council agreed with the closure. Councilor Ryan Hunter questioned if more problems were to arise if the homeless were left to stay on the streets without a shelter.

Hunter said by closing the warming shelter, the city could be liable for state-created danger by leaving more homeless on the street.

"We all know that there are no alternatives available," Hunter said. "Existing shelters are routinely full and there won't be a new shelter springing up to fill the gap resulting from the closure or reduction of services from the warming shelter."

Horn, with the warming shelter, said most of the concern centered on homeless people breaking the law, and added the shelter can work with people to uphold the standards of the community, but that the Kalispell Police must hold people accountable.

As for repeat offenders, Horn said the shelter has not received specific complaints directed at people, making enforcement of the warming shelter policies difficult.

The shelter's policy allows for banning certain people from entering, similar to other policies at Montana shelters.

"We have not been handed a list of names," Horn said. "We understand that if people have an issue with someone, we can do something about it. If you burn a bridge with the community, you burn that bridge with (the shelter.)"

Horn said she isn't sure what will happen next. The current zoning of the building allows her to continue offering some services, but as of now, the center will not open as planned on Oct. 10.

She said she will not give up on operating the shelter in the future.

"We are looking at all legal options available to us," Horn said.

Kalispell Mayor Mark Johnson did not respond to a request for comment from the Missoulian.

Griffen Smith is the local government reporter for the Missoulian.

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