Cold causes crisis for Havre homeless

The director of a local service organization suggested to City Council that Havre needs to create accommodations for homeless people.

Havre city government and Hill County ought to consider opening a temporary housing shelter for homeless people when the weather gets extremely cold, said Trina Crawford, the director of the Salvation Army’s Havre Service Center at the Havre City Council meeting Monday night.

The vacancy rate in Havre apartments is very low, she said, and federal rules are making it harder for people to qualify for housing assistance, she said.

That has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of displaced people looking for emergency shelter, she said.

The Salvation Army’s budget has already been stretched thin, she said, because of the increased demand and the bitter cold winter.

“Homelessness is not a Salvation Army problem,” she said. “It is a city problem, a county problem, a community problem, a problem for the churches ... ,” she said.

Usually, when an individual or family comes in looking for shelter, Crawford said she will provide four day’s to a week’s stay in an area motel. But she says she requires that the family provide her with a plan as to what they will do after their time in the motel runs out. She can provide some resources, she said, but the family is to do the legwork, looking for apartments.

Sometimes she can help the family, providing assistance with the first month’s rent or security deposit, she said.

But she said the service Salvation Army provides is “a Band-Aid,” not a permanent solution to the homeless problem.

The long-range solution, she said, is more affordable housing for people in the lower economic ranges.

A shelter would help more people escape homelessness, she said.

The winter months is when the need is most acute, Crawford said.

The shelter could be opened when temperatures reach a certain range, she said.

It could include some private areas and a large room with cots and beds, she said. The city and county could provide an employee to oversee the operations, she said.

She pointed to a recent news story in which a 61-year-old woman died in Missoula.

“I know it’s just a matter of time before something like that happens here,” Crawford said.

Council members seemed sympathetic to the problem.They asked questions of Crawford, but none made a commitment to providing a shelter.

Councilman Brian Barrows of Ward 2 said the area needs to look at a whole range of housing opportunities.

“Thank you for what you do,” he said to Crawford. But he said he was worried that shelters were just one solution to the problem.

“The housing is just temporary,” he said. “It’s a dead end.”

Crawford said church groups have taken part in the effort to help the homeless.

The Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association helps, she said, and St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church sometimes provides needy people with housing, she said.