HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-17-23 Public Comment - C. Elwell - Unhoused Community Campbell Elwell
% Ms. Warn
Gallatin High School
4455 Annie St.
Bozeman Mt, 59718
March 8, 2023
Bozeman City Commission,
City Hall, 121 N. Rouse Avenue
Bozeman MT, 59715
Dear City Commissioners,
Since 2019, Bozeman's homeless population has increased by 47%, according to Montana Free
Press, and it's causing quite a bit of problems to everyone involved. This extends from street
cleanings to camping space shortages to waiting months for a vehicle to be in/be repaired in
Montna. My proposed solution is to inform people of the occurring problem and to do something
to fix it as a community within these coming years.
This issue is happening because housing and rent prices are rising at astronomical levels and
people can't even afford to live here anymore. According to The Bozeman Daily Chronicle, "...
the median price of single family homes doubled in the last year..." and that the demand for
affordable long term housing is in such high demand that a family in Gallatin County rented out
their home for 350 dollars a night and that it was rented out for the whole summer within three
hours.
Furthermore, many people are going homeless, not just because of increasing rent, but also due
to landlords wanting to change their renting style to short-term to get more rent. "Brian Guyer,
housing director with HRDC, said many of the people they talk to had stable housing for years
before a landlord gave them 30- days notice to get out. In Bozeman's tight housing market with a
perilously low vacancy rate, a month often isn't enough time for people to find somewhere to
land." Landlords are increasing rent to get more money, however they can't just increase rent to
their long-term renters, so they have to kick these people out. Then, when the people living in the
houses try to find another place to live, they can't. They have to live in a trailer or an RV and get
multiple jobs just to support themselves and their families but can't buy a house because the
prices just keep going up.
So what happens to these people that can't afford to live in local housing? Most of the time they
buy a trailer or RV, however this isn't the best option either. Besides the obvious of not being
able to live in an actual house, living on wheels is causing problems for our community.
Bozeman is currently in high demand for mobile homes and cars. The companies can't get them
ready quickly and it usually takes months for even a simple car repair. Further, campsites all
around the state are getting filled to the brim so people have to improvise by parking on the side
of a road or in parking lots, which is causing problems for families wanting to go on a weekend
long camping trip or something of the like. One such problem that has occurred from this is the
il
routine services of city maintenance including the streets and sewer.
Eon st e slacrosslthBc ty
ZK
writes, "City spokesperson Danni Hess says people livingcampers
has prevented them from doing street and sewer maintenance."for'he wleekeof Apr l 16 h re asked to move their
of 2022.
warming
and were encouraged to go to the warmg center
Unfortunately, we can't do anything to get these people houses r ghnaow according to the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes many states including
Regrettably there isn't much we can do about this uproblem
right
few now.
yea We cat 'weust start
lowering housing and rent prices right away, that cold
however, is inform people and the public about homelessnave whew. Informing people of, which can be a pth s
stone to getting these people permanent homes that don t h
know about and be aware of this problem and then we can work together
problem will let them
to solve it.
Sincerely,
�4 44
Campbell Elwell