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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-28-19 Public Comment - J. Arthur - HRDC Warming Center SiteFrom:Jean Arthur To:Agenda Subject:comments on proposed HRDC Special Use Permit for 3025 Westridge Date:Monday, October 28, 2019 8:09:44 AM 504 W. Spring Creek Dr. Bozeman, MT 59715   Oct. 27, 2019Sarah Rosenberg, Bozeman City Planner, Martin Matsen, Director of Community Development and Chris Mehl, Deputy MayorCity of Bozeman and Commissioners   Dear Ms. Rosenberg, Mr. Matsen, Mr. Mehl and Commissioners,   The Figgins neighborhood is not an appropriate location for a homeless shelter. The neighborhood, my neighborhood, holds an R-1 designation: residential homes. The City ofBozeman dedicated areas of the community for many reasons; one very important reason is because neighborhoods and grade schools and middle schools are safe together. People lookout for one another. While HRDC’s mission to house many homeless people is admirable, that mission does not align with a quiet neighborhood of retirees, working singles and couples,college students, families and lots and lots of school children and preschoolers running about. I urge you to decline the Special Use Permit for 3025 Westridge, sought by Human ResourcesDevelopment Council (HRDC).   When the youth home occupied the house at 3025 Westridge, my family and I encountered no unruly behavior and in fact enjoyed occasionally chatting with the teens while they playedwith our dogs. The employees, the “house parents,” helped the teens with neighborly behavior. Such won’t be the case with occupants of the proposed shelter because HRDC staff cannotcontrol behavior of shelter inhabitants. Sure, some shelter-users will follow all the rules, yet here’s what’s known and what’s exceedingly disturbing about opening a shelter in aneighborhood near two schools. In “Substance Use Among Persons with Homeless Experience in Primary Care,” research by the National Institutes of Health researchers found that“Community survey data suggest(s) high prevalence of substance use disorders among currently homeless individuals.” The NIH report from 2016 examined substance-use disordersamong homeless, involving alcohol and illicit drugs: “Almost one-half of the sample (n = 601) had recently (within the past 3 months) used alcohol, and one-third had recently used an illicitdrug. The most commonly used illicit drugs in the past 3 months were cannabis (19%), cocaine (16%), and opioids (7.5%). Over one-half (59%) of respondents had ASSIST-definedmoderate or high risk substance use.” ASSIST is the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test. So, of the nightly maximum shelter guests of 36, it’s possiblethat nearly 18 people per night! will have substance-abuse issues, and during HRDC’s proposed five-month shelter season, of the 5,400 people potentially housed there, nearly 2,700will suffer from substance abuse. That’s simply unacceptable. Please do not allow HRDC to bring problems to a neighborhood that is home to two public schools, a half-dozen preschools,in-home daycares and a public park.   While news coverage of the proposed shelter, neighborhood meetings with current residents, and information from HRDC reveals that sheltered folks will need to leave their weapons at the door, my question is: Where do their illicit drugs go? HRDC doesn’t allow drugs, alcoholand cigarettes in its shelters, of course. So needles, bongs, pills, mirrors, glass pipes and other drugs and paraphernalia will be stored, well, where? In the bushes around the proposedshelter? With shelter-users’ friends who drive by at all hours of the night? Drugs snuck in to be used, shared, discarded in neighbors’ yards or the park?   Plenty of research reveals significant crime in neighborhoods when homeless shelters move in.University of Pennsylvania’s 2018 report, “Effect of Emergency Homeless Shelters on Property Crime,” reveals “The presence of a shelter appears to cause property crime toincrease by 56% within 100m(eters) of that shelter, with thefts from vehicles, other thefts, and vandalism driving the increase. However, when a homeless shelter opened, rates of breakingand entering commercial establishments were 34% lower within 100m(eters) of that shelter. The observed effects are concentrated close to shelters, within 400 meters, and dissipatebeyond 400 meters.” Bringing crime to our neighborhood is simply untenable governance. The 400 meters, or 1,312.3 feet, includes Morning Star School at 287 feet from the proposed warming shelter.Sacajawea School at about 2,600 feet, and several additional neighborhoods are nearby and in danger from potential crime.   Why not instead have a high-barrier shelter, excluding those with criminal records, excludingthose with substance-abuse troubles and only house women with children. Require that guests cannot leave once checked in each night. We do as a community demand safety. We do as aneighborhood demand to be heard. We do as voters demand that current law, current regulations and current neighbors’ wishes be followed. I’m demanding that you deny HRDC’srequest to alter forever the character of my neighborhood. Deny the request for a Special Use Permit for 3025 Westridge.   Sincerely,Jean Arthur   Faraji, Sara-Laure, Greg Ridgeway, and Yuhao Wu. “Effect of Emergency Homeless Shelters on Property Crime.” Journal of Experimental Criminology. 2018. Vol 14:2 pp 129-140.   Stringfellow, Erin, MSW,a,* Theresa W. Kim, MD,b Adam J. Gordon, MD, MPH,c David E. Pollio, PhD,dRichard A. Grucza, PhD, MPE,e Erika L. Austin, PhD,f N. Kay Johnson, RN, MPH,f and Stefan G. Kertesz, MD, MScf,g. “Substance Use Among Persons with Homeless Experience in Primary Care,” Subst Abus. 2016 Oct-Dec; 37(4): 534–541.