The Helena City Commission recently allocated some of its about $1 million in remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds, including an additional last-minute $100,000 toward funding a solution to the city’s immediate unsheltered crisis.
Rad, left, the leader of a camp of unsheltered people south of Helena, appeals to the Helena City Commission during its July 24 meeting.
Rad, the leader of a self-proclaimed sobriety camp that sits as of Friday afternoon on U.S. Forest Service Land south of Helena, recently made an appeal to leaders of the city and county for help.
Rad helped raise his kids in Helena, but his alcoholism and run-ins with the law left him on the streets, in and out of jail and banned from the only shelter in the area.
He was not immediately available for comment Friday as he was reportedly taking his pit bull terrier, that recently gave birth to a litter of puppies at the camp, for a follow-up veterinarian appointment.
A federal government-imposed camping limit required the camp be disbanded Friday. Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton said in an interview Friday he has been monitoring the situation and he believes a tentative deal has been struck with the owner of the private land adjacent to USFS territory the group was previously camping on.
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An encampment of more than a dozen unsheltered people just south of Helena on U.S. Forest Service land is pictured Friday afternoon. The yellow USFS sign posted to the tree denotes the agency’s territory.
Matthew Ferrell, a spokesman for the USDA Forest Service, said in an email Friday, “All we can say is that the unsheltered camp in Oro Fino Gulch has exceeded their 16-day stay limit. The matter is now being dealt with by our Law Enforcement Officers. I am unable to comment further at this time.”
City of Helena spokesman Jacob Garcin said in an Aug. 4 email that neither City Manager Tim Burton nor Helena Police Chief Brett Petty were “aware of any solutions presented by the City at this point.”
On Aug. 7, City Commissioner Melinda Reed amended a resolution allocating more than half a million ARPA dollars, considered savings in the general fund resulting from the ARPA aid, to seven community projects by tacking on an additional $100,000 to fund a potential solution to the lack of shelter in the city.
Those original allocations included $250,000 to Family Promise of Greater Helena, a nonprofit helping unsheltered families, to buy property to expand its family-oriented shelter services, and $134,000 to Good Samaritan Ministries to administer an adult day program that provides services for unsheltered people during the day.
“I think the Good Samaritan project is an amazing piece of a puzzle, and it solves the daytime,” Reed said. “What it does not solve is the night time. I think currently we have emergency sheltering services coming from God’s Love, which addresses some people. We have the Friendship Center, which addresses some people. The Family Promise will address some other people. But there is still a large group of people who do not fit in any of those services at night.”
Reed said Helena has “a big gap.”
Helena City Commissioner Melinda Reed
“In speaking with some of the service providers, they all recognize this gap, and I think if we can set the funds aside … we can find out what we can do and specifically identify things to address the issue. … I think there are ideas, but we don’t have a way execute them unless we have the funding and commitment to do so.”
When City Commissioner Sean Logan pressed Reed on what specific things the additional funds might be spent on, she said she did not know.
“But I think this gives us a pool of funding to draw from when someone comes up with a plan, because right now if someone came to us with a plan, we could say ‘Good idea. We don’t have any way to support it.'”
Dinner is served to a larger-than-usual crowd at Helena’s God’s Love homeless shelter as subzero temperatures gripped the Helena Valley in this 2019 IR file photo.
The ARPA allocations approved Monday also included $120,000 for the development of a comprehensive city recreation plan, a $50,000 community aid grant for Kay’s Kids program, $26,000 to Exploration Works for expanded offerings, $2,000 to Last Chance Pow Wow, and $98,000 for a public restroom downtown, a proposal brought forward recently by the Helena Business Improvement District.
Reed said if the no solution comes about, the money would be returned to the general fund like any of the other allocations should they fall through.
The resolution passed as amended by Reed on a 5-0 vote.
“This is a great idea, Commissioner Reed,” Helena Mayor Wilmot Collins said during the meeting. “We don’t have time on our hands so to speak. … So I hope we’ll take that into consideration and have that discussion as soon as possible.”
The group of unsheltered people living in Oro Fino Gulch previously asked the commission for help, but not the financial kind.
Rad stands in a secluded section of his camp about a mile south of Helena he calls the sanctuary. Rad and at one time 29 other unsheltered people set up a camp off Oro Fino Gulch Road.
“We’re not asking for money,” Good Samaritan Executive Director Theresa Ortega said during the city’s July 24 meeting. Ortega and her organization have been advocating for the camp. “How do we do this, make this place? Because obviously we don’t have enough homeless shelters here in town, and this was taken on partly because of that.”
SK Rossi of Central House Strategies spoke to the commission Monday on behalf of The Montana Coalition to Solve Homelessness, offering the coalition’s expertise in the coming discussion.
“Helena has dedicated community members seeking a short-term solution to keep folks safe until more permanent solutions can be found,” Rossi said in an email Thursday. “In the long term, we are grateful that the City Commission and Mayor are investing dollars and coming to the table to figure this out. It says a lot about the City’s willingness to address the need.”
They pointed to estimates from the National Low Income Housing Coalition that state only 45 affordable home are available for every 100 extremely low-income renters, and that Montana would need an additional 15,741 housing units to meet current demands.
“MCSH steering committee, which includes shelter directors and advocates working in communities around the state, are meeting regularly to develop a range of solutions where Montana can make progress and better support those living unhoused,” Rossi said. “We will continue to listen to those with lived experience and work until everyone has a safe, affordable place to live. We know it is a long road, but we are and will remain optimistic. What other choice do we have?”
Reed said in the interview that she hopes to incorporate not only the organizations doing the work on the ground, but also those affected by any future decision.
“My preference is not for task forces or administrative things, but to get the right people in the room and come up with actionable solutions,” she said.
Nolan Lister is a reporter at the Helena Independent Record with an emphasis on local government.