Yellowstone Times

BOZEMAN, Mont. - The houseless population in Bozeman is growing steadily, especially in the last two years. 

It has become a major cause of concern for citizens and the city. On Wednesday, community leaders held a panel put on by the HRDC to meet with citizens to discuss the issues, their plans, and potential solutions to the crisis. 

One thing Commissioner Zach Brown wanted to note was that this was not just Bozeman but many cities on both sides of the political spectrum are dealing with this and that finger pointing will get nothing done. 

The major cause of this has been rising rent prices, up 65% in the last two years. Home prices are also up dramatically. Inflation on goods but not wages have caused people to look at other options besides houses/apartments. 

Commissioner Brown also thinks it is important to note that we have a serious mental health problem in this county and Gallatin County has a lack of resources to help people, and this is contributing to the houseless issues. 

One project in the works is the HRDC community commons. It will be the first 24/7 365 shelter for singles and families in the area. This will allow people to receive more support to get back on their feet. 

They are currently fundraising for this and are close to reaching their 4.5 million dollar goal. 

Darryl Schliem of the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce said there is three phases of housing help in Bozeman, emergency shelter, affordable housing and then work force housing. The community commons would go a long way to fulfilling emergency shelter. Then, they need to create a lot more affordable housing as everyone here knows. The HRDC says that Gallatin County is short 7,000 homes to fill the needs of the community. 

Right now they are sheltering 20 families in hotels and there are 25 families on the wait list of the program that houses them in hotels. 

This was all addressed during the meeting and then they took questions from the community members. No noteworthy plans or answers came out of the Q&A session. 

What's next is to keep fundraising and get the community commons built and to work on creating much more affordable housing through the city and contractors.  

Original link can be found here.