The Helena City commissioners voted 4-1 Monday night to approve a permit for an emergency shelter that will house up to 26 homeless women in the community.
The deciding vote came about a month after the group leading the effort, Good Samaritan Ministries, said it would seek the conditional use permit needed to open the shelter.
The shelter, which will be called Ruth’s Place, is intended to be a low-barrier shelter, meaning it won’t have criteria, such as sobriety, for women to utilize its resources at no cost.
Earlier this year, the commissioners pledged $100,000 to fund a solution to the city’s homeless population, which has been growing over the past few years with about 40 to 50 homeless women among them.
“Homelessness is a significant issue that affects the well-being of individuals and families of our community members,” Mayor Wilmot Collins said during the meeting. “By supporting the shelter, it helps answer and it helps solve some of the problems that were heard today.”
The mayor also added that if this permit hadn’t been approved, the problems would still exist.
The shelter will be downtown at 648 N. Jackson St., and some area residents and businesses opposed the location. City Commissioner Sean Logan voted against the approval of the permit and acknowledged the public opposition.
“Over the course of years, the city commission has had serious feedback from the public, asking us why we continue to allow the impacts to public health and safety caused by homelessness,” Logan said before the vote. “In emails received and in public comments tonight, we’ve heard numerous examples of the urban blight, decay, and crime, and how it continues to get worse. We owe it to the public to seriously address these concerns. I don’t pretend to have the answers, but at this point, we’re not even talking about these issues. As an elected body we hear a lot from the public, both citizens and businesses who have a serious concern. So far we’ve mostly ignored them.”
“Homelessness is a significant issue that affects the well-being of individuals and families of our community members. By supporting the shelter, it helps answer and it helps solve some of the problems that were heard today.”
Mayor Wilmot Collins
Among those who addressed their worries about the shelter location was Meg White, a resident near Oro Fino Gulch where a previously disbanded homeless encampment was located for several months
“My concern is that the proposed emergency shelter has been haphazardly thought through without taking into account the families, business owners and community members utilizing the downtown area,” White said. “Similar to the homeowners and recreationists using the trails and living on Oro Fino Gulch.”
State Sen. Mary Ann Dunwell, who represents the district of Helena and East Helena, spoke in favor of the shelter.
“The 26 women who hopefully will be housed at night, I represent them too. They’re my constituents as well. They’re Montanans, so they’re your constituents as well,” Dunwell said during the meeting. “I understand where some of the opponents are coming from. Believe me, I do. The thing is, it’s incumbent upon us as elected officials to make sure people have a place to stay.”
Once improvements to the building are made and staff is hired, the shelter is set to open in February, according to Theresa Ortega, the director of Good Samaritan Ministries.
“Today’s reality is that no single provider can meet the complex needs of the homeless population,” Ortega said during the meeting. “We come to you with the backing of a team, the Housing Task Force, and multiple nonprofit agencies, community members, and churches to plan and address the needs of women who are homeless. We want to call that Ruth’s Place.”
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