KALISPELL — The Kalispell City Council pulled the permit for the Flathead Warming Center, a homeless shelter in Kalispell at Monday night's council meeting.
The Flathead Warming Center has been a resource for the homeless community in Kalispell for four years providing shelter, food, showers, laundry and other resources.
But all of that is changing now that their conditional use permit has been revoked. Now, it is time to figure out what comes next.
"Our hearts hurt, and the reason why we're hurting right now is because we know that we're a part of the solution. We know that people desperately need our services and to believe that shutting down the warming center is a part of the solution, it's just not true," said Flathead Warming Center Executive Director Tonya Horn.
The Kalispell City Council revoked the Flathead Warming Center's permit during Monday night's meeting which means guests will no longer be allowed to have overnight during the winter months.
"It's not going to give the outcome that people are expecting. Shutting down services is not going to make homelessness go away. It is going to create situations where people are more desperate to get their basic needs met," said Horn.
Kalispell Mayor Mark Johnson says the Flathead Warming Center can provide some services dependent on what is allowed in the building's zoning code but as to what those services are, no one knows at this time.
"We don't know what's next. We've not understood the process this far, and we don't understand what is next," said Horn.
The Flathead Warming Center obtained a lawyer to help them through this process and will continue to work to determine what comes next and further actions they can take to continue serving the homeless community.
"The law matters. And we're looking at all options to be able to protect the rights of people who need our services and our rights to be able to help them," Horn told MTN.
Horn says the Flathead Warming Center has never received a citation from the city or from the Kalispell Police Department. Nor have they been shown any evidence that the issues are being caused by Flathead Warming Center guests.
"This process has not seemed fair. It feels unjust to hold us responsible for behaviors within the community. We cannot be responsible for adult behavior off of the property of the warming center, that doesn't mean we don't care," said Horn.
The Flathead Warming Center will continue to provide laundry and shower services to their guests on Monday and Thursday.
They are not giving up the fight to figure out how to provide a warm safe place for 50 homeless people this winter.
"The people that we serve, and the needs that they have, it's worth fighting for," said Horn.
MTN is working to get more information from the City of Kalispell as to what comes next for the Flathead Warming Center.
We will continue to follow this story as it develops.
