Homeless in Columbia Falls
Homeless, Bill Bagosy was hoping to raise enough money to get to Williston, N.D. last week to get a job. Bagosy said he was living in a tent, but a $100 donation earlier in the week allowed him to buy some warm clothes.
At a time of year when many people have gone home for the holidays, Columbia Falls resident Greg Fortin is worried about those who have no home to go to.
A guide with Glacier Adventure Guides, Fortin recently spoke on the subject before a number of town business leaders at the Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards luncheon at the Cedar Creek Lodge Dec. 10. There, he spoke of what he called a growing number of people living in their cars in area parking lots, saying he was worried about their safety during the cold winter months.
“You don’t want to invade someone’s privacy, but at the same time you want them to know that there are resources about there that are available to them,” Fortin said. “These are people that need our help and we should be doing what we can to give them that help.”
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, there has been a downward trend in the number of homeless across the nation since 2007, but a significant increase in Montana. According to their studies, Montana’s homeless population was at 1,405 in 2018, down eight percent from the previous year, but up 22 percent from the alliance’s first study in 2007.
While statistics showed a downward trend in the number of homeless in Montana in 2018, Columbia Falls Police Chief Clint Peters says the issue is something that he and his officers deal with regularly.
“We do see people that are rolling through town and they will be here for a night, but there are probably only three or four that we know of that are living out of their cars or campers in the city,” Peters said. “We have an ordinance prohibiting camping inside city limits, so if we do find someone who is camping out in a private or public parking lot, we do ask them to move on. We are not zoned for it and we do have laws against it. We are aware of places that will let them stay temporarily and we ask them to move there.”
One of the main problems with this strategy is that there are several shelters for the homeless in the Flathead Valley, but they are located in Kalispell, 15 miles from Columbia Falls.
While Peters said that in the past the Salvation Army would provide his police department with vouchers for local hotels that could be given to the homeless, some bad experiences by those hotels have led to the end of that program, leading to some difficult situations.
“Montana is a difficult place to be homeless,” Peters said. “I think that is part of why you see such a massive issue with homelessness in California. They are permissive of it and people can stand to live outside there year round. Here, if you don’t have a warm place to stay, it can be a real threat to your well-being.”
The severity of the threat was shown in 2010, when a homeless Columbia Falls man, living in his car, froze to death in the parking lot of Cardinal True Value Hardware. Jeffery Tolson was found severely hypothermic without a pulse in his car after the vehicle’s battery had died, leaving the electric blanket he was using to stay warm without power.
According to Chris Krager, Executive Director of the Samaritan House homeless shelter in Kalispell, just getting homeless from Columbia Falls to a shelter can be quite challenging.
“The main challenge we are facing with homeless people in Columbia Falls is that the shelters are in Kalispell. We love being able to provide people with shelter, but it is not in their hometown. That can be a challenge, and an understandable one,” Krager said. “It can be a very serious problem with the nature of homelessness in Montana because it includes not having a home in the winter. It can be fatal.”
Krager said the often receives calls from people telling him about homeless who need help throughout the Flathead Valley and that he does his best to make contact, no matter where the people are located.
“Response time to the outlying areas can be slow,” he said. “But I can get there.”
Krager says he sees a pretty even split at his shelter between homeless families and homeless individuals with two-thirds of the individuals being male and one-third female. These numbers are consistent with the national average.
As for those who see homeless around Columbia Falls and want to help, Peters says that is a decision that is up to each individual.
“It’s up to each person as to whether or not they want to approach someone and offer help. Quite frankly, there are some people out there who don’t want any help,” he said. “I don’t think it is a safety issue. I don’t think we are seeing an influx of bad people. These are people that are just down on their luck and are having to deal with whatever has led them to this situation. There’s a whole gamut of reasons as to why people end up homeless.”
Visit www.shelterlistings.org/city/kalispell-mt.html for more information on resources for the homeless in the Flathead Valley.