by Marisa Neyenhuis, Hamilton
As the temperature in the valley drops and housing prices in the Bitterroot skyrocket, I’m wondering where our unhoused neighbors are supposed to go. After reading about the recent death of an unhoused man who collapsed in Victor as he was walking from Hamilton to Missoula to receive treatment for his hands and feet due to injuries from the cold (‘Two Dimes and a Nickel: Cold Kills Homeless Bitterroot Man’ Ravalli Republic, Nov 16th), I started thinking about all the folks in the Bitterroot, including families, that don’t have a warm place to go. People are sleeping outside in the bitter cold and families are living in their cars. There has to be a better solution. Can we as a community find some locations? What about church basements? Most churches are used one or two days a week and go largely empty the rest of the week. Could they be put to better use in the off-hours? What other spaces are going unused at night? In a country with so much wealth, no one should be going hungry or unhoused. Poverty isn’t a crime. How can we best help our neighbors? Where can we pool our resources? Which organizations are ready to step up and help? This is, of course, not only a problem in the winter, but the winter is when being unhoused can be deadly. Let’s work together to support our neighbors and find places for them to be safe and warm.