(logo whooshes) - [Breanna] Coming up on Impact.

It's being called urban camping, and it's bringing attention to Montana's growing homeless population.

Now, cities must figure out how to manage it.

- We gotta create a safe space for everybody, including the campers themselves.

- [Breanna] We'll hear from the people affected by the new ordinances.

(logo whooshes) And there's progress toward creating the state's first family justice center to provide support for domestic violence victims.

Officials say it's long overdue.

- We can't claim to have a safe community when people are not safe in their own homes.

(logo whooshes) - [Breanna] Those stories next on impact.

- [Announcer] Production of Impact is made possible with support from the Otto Bremer Trust.

Investing in people, places, and opportunities in our region.

online at ottobremer.org.

The Greater Montana Foundation.

Encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.

And viewers like you who are friends of Montana PBS.

Thank you.

(logo whooshes) - Welcome to Impact, our continuing series, providing in-depth coverage of issues important to Montanans.

I'm Breanna McCabe.

Homelessness continues to grow in Montana.

The proliferation of encampments, RVs, and campers make it more visible, and that's pushing city officials to address homelessness in new ways.

Montana PBS's Joe Lesar takes us to Bozeman to see how city leaders, business owners, and the unhoused are trying to find solutions.

(logo whooshes) (engine rattling) - [Steven] I tell you, man, you gotta have thick skin out here.

- [Belinda] Oh, we got the windows broke out.

That one up, there's just completely gone.

- Yeah, that one's had the BB come through there.

There are good people in Bozeman.

It's just the ugly overshadows the good so bad.

- [Joe] Steve and Belinda Ankney have been living in their trailer on the streets of Bozeman for the past three years.

- [Steven] We take plates around or if people are having a hard time and they're not eating, they'll stop by and ask if they can, if we can help or anyway.

- [Joe] The financial challenges that many people have faced in recent years have compounded issues the couple of long faced.

- [Belinda] I was raised with the drugs.

I was raised with the alcohol 'cause that's all I knew.

- [Joe] Both have struggled with addiction.

Belinda works full-time at a restaurant.

Health issues made worse by inconsistent access to care have affected Steven's ability to work.

- [Belinda] One of the biggest misconceptions is that we wanna be here, that we're not trying to get out.

- [Joe] And Belinda's legal troubles add another barrier against them securing housing.

- Yeah, the mental health issues.

The drug issues, the in and out of incarceration.

Not getting the right help, not being on the right meds.

You know, just... Just (beep) us.

- [Joe] Urban camping as it's been named, has increased by 200% in the last two years according to city officials.

Seen as a big city problem just several years ago, homelessness and urban camping has become a big and divisive issue here in Bozeman.

- If Bozeman is too expensive to live in, choose another place to live.

- But it feels more like a war zone with all this housing crisis and no solutions to anything.

- Bozeman doesn't owe anybody anything.

- I've never seen it or been in a city where there's so much conflict over how this homelessness thing.

- [Joe] At a packed meeting in September, the City Commission discussed a new ordinance aimed at addressing immediate issues like trash, abandoned vehicles, and human waste.

It was passed in October and takes effect on November 24th.

The rules were crafted under the guidance of two landmark rulings by the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

- [Jeff] We cannot criminalize homelessness by writing somebody a ticket or removing them.

- [Joe] The 2018 Martin versus Boise ruling and the 2022 Johnson versus Grants Pass ruling enshrined the rights of people experiencing homelessness to sleep on public property without facing criminal penalties if there is no shelter space available to them.

The ruling said that doing so violates the Eighth Amendment's cruel and unusual punishment clause.

This summer, the Ninth Circuit refused to rehear the Grants Pass case.

Since then, mayors and attorneys general across the Ninth Circuit, including Montana's Attorney General Austin Knudsen, have pushed to get the cases in front of the US Supreme Court.

- But the courts also said that we could regulate it based on time, place, and manner.

Then that does give us just enough guidance to write a ordinance that we think works well for the city of Bozeman.

- [Joe] The original draft of the ordinance limited camping in the same spot to five days and created a civil penalty structure, in which after three warnings, people would receive $100 fines for each additional infraction.

It was amended by the city commission and the time limit is now 30 days with the option of filing for an extension and the fines are $25.

The ordinance drew heavy public opposition, criticized by some for being too burdensome, by others for being too lenient.

Incoming mayor Terry Cunningham says that what will help everybody are the rules surrounding where camping will be allowed.

- It shouldn't be forgotten that we have said you can't be parked in front of a business.

You can't be parked in front of a a school, childcare facility, residence, et cetera.

So narrowing the areas that it is acceptable to camp in front of is important so we can get some level of predictability and control.

- [Joe] Criticism there as well as many camps are already in compliance with those rules.

To help address sanitation issues, the city is hiring two health and safety compliance officers.

- Those health and safety officers are gonna be out at the urban campsites every single day talking about this new ordinance, explaining to the campers what the rules and regulations are, making sure that we gain compliance.

Our goal is always to get voluntary compliance.

- [Joe] Unsanitary conditions can be cleaned or removed by the city 72 hours after giving a notice.

No notice is required if the condition poses an imminent risk to public health or safety.

A group of businesses are suing the city over what they've called willful neglect of the increase in urban camping.

One of the six plaintiffs is Modulus Corporation, an engineering firm on Hemlock Street, a short and narrow road that has been steadily occupied by campers for two years.

- Early on we had some theft of services on the property.

We had a little bit of a harassment interaction with an employee and one of the individuals.

Some violence between their members, not involving us, but issues that spilled onto our property that we had to call the police for.

- [Joe] The plaintiffs argue that the city has turned a blind eye to the issues that have come with urban camping.

- I think it just comes down to the city not enforcing its own codes and ordinances, its laws.

The laws that we all abide by, such as maintaining your property in a cleanly manner, not permitting violence or assault or any of the things that we have witnessed here.

That's gone unenforced.

- [Joe] But city leaders point back to the Ninth Circuit rulings.

They maintain that they can't apply those laws to the homeless population because they bring criminal penalties.

Mihelich is asking business owners for patience as a new ordinance takes effect, - But this new ordinance is an attempt for us to actually do exactly what they want and that's to create a better framework of laws that we can enforce in the right way to get things cleaned up 'cause that's exactly what I hear from the business owners.

- [Joe] Here in Bozeman, urban camping and ongoing homelessness are in some ways separate issues.

- [Terry] Homelessness has always been on the radar.

This with urban camping, et cetera, RVs, more cars.

This is a recent phenomenon.

(engine rattling) - [Joe] Because of the generators, new model cars, and TV antennas, there's a sentiment in town that people are choosing to camp in order to save money on housing.

Mihelich acknowledged that the city is aware of some folks who were doing just that.

He says that going ahead, those folks will be asked to move on.

But figuring out who those people are comes with challenges.

- One of the difficulties is having the discussion and saying, why are you currently homeless?

They are not required to provide us with that information, and often are uncomfortable answering those types of questions.

So, our ability to say, this is exactly why this person in this camper is homeless, as opposed to that other person across the street is homeless, gets you on a pretty slippery slope pretty quickly from a human rights point of view.

- [Joe] Regardless of the makeup or intention of the urban camping population, data from the Homeless Management Information System shows a 50% increase in people experiencing homelessness in Bozeman since 2020.

The groups providing services to this rising population have struggled to meet the demand.

- As a result of COVID, there was this big uptick in demand and there was this outpouring of support, and now the outpouring of support has dropped off, but the demand has stayed up at this level.

And the resources are very insufficient to meet the need.

- [Joe] CEO Heather Grenier says HRDC's Homelessness Case Management Services are at full capacity and that there's not a whole lot else that's out there.

- It's remarkably difficult because there's no pathway for us to help them.

There's no housing, there's no rental assistance to help them get into a housing unit even if there were a housing unit.

There's no transitional housing.

The best thing that we can offer is a bunk in a shelter - [Joe] Usage of HRDC's overnight shelter has nearly doubled since 2019.

Some of that need should be eased when their new 24/7 overnight shelter opens in 2025.

The building will expand their capacity and serve as a hub for many of the other services that HRDC provides.

- [Heather] And I think that will meet the emergency shelter needs for our community, certainly now we've gotta focus on transitional housing and housing needs.

- [Joe] Adding to it all, Grenier feels that urban camping has caused a shift in the attitude the community has towards homelessness in general.

- You know, the just general sentiment that everyone deserves a safe, warm place to sleep doesn't really resonate with everyone anymore.

- [Joe] With the current array of available services, urban camping appears to remain as a feature of post-pandemic Bozeman.

- Is it not on?

Are we out?

Are we out for real?

- No.

- Oh.

- No, it's heating up.

I don't know.

- Okay.

- [Joe] Caught between a lack of services in a frustrated community are people like Steven and Belinda - And we are trying to achieve something that we haven't seen a lot of from our families, you know?

- [Joe] Things for them aren't easy, but being near family certainly helps.

Belinda's brother, Brian, is living with them for the time being, and tonight is Brian's birthday.

Brian's granddaughter is visiting for the night and helping them celebrate.

- [Belinda] And I'm blessed to have this much when I could have nothing.

- [Joe] Life here in Bozeman means they get to be close to their three daughters who live with Steven's dad in Belgrade.

- And I don't want that to go away and I don't want that to stop.

I mean, I work too hard.

- This is what it's about.

We are having these struggles and we are having these problems, but as soon as we get through them, we are gonna be okay.

We are gonna get to the other side.

- [Joe] Steven is from Belgrade.

He's contributed to the Gallatin Valley for years and more than anything, just wants a part of it for him and his family to enjoy.

- We just want a piece.

(chuckles) You know, we just want to enjoy this with you guys.

- [Brian] Yeah.

- [Steven] There you go brother.

- [Brian] Thanks, brother.

- [Joe] For Impact, I'm Joe Lesar.

- West of the divide earlier this summer, Missoula declared an official state of emergency regarding homelessness in the city.

This allowed the city to use property tax money to reopen and expand an emergency shelter.

Missoula City Council is set to vote on its own urban camping ordinance in December.

In the 20 years that Montana's been keeping track, about 250 people have been killed by an intimate partner.

The state panel that investigates these deaths says those domestic violence victims often never find their way to the help that's available.

As Montana PBS's Stan Parker reports, leaders in Billings wanna provide easier access to those services by putting them all under one roof.

- [Stan] During a terrifying ordeal about eight years ago, the intense heat of a hot yoga class was a rare source of refuge and calm for Taya Keith.

- And of course, like everyone else, I almost died the first couple times, but I loved it.

I truly call it a practice 'cause I don't feel like you're ever there.

I absolutely love that you can go and just find your peace.

- [Stan] During that time, Taya needed all the peace she could find.

She was a mother of three dealing with an abusive marriage that turned violent when she tried to leave.

- It got really scary and dangerous and I felt so alone.

- [Stan] Now, Taya is sharing her story to help others, lending her voice to a citywide effort in Billings to create something called a Family Justice Center.

A single place that would house all the help someone might need to escape an abusive relationship.

- Survivors end up having to go from place to place and agency to agency, and it's such a gauntlet for survivors that many of them, it's easier to go back to their abuse than it is to navigate through the system.

- The experience that I had when I had to go file for a restraining order, when I had to get my paperwork for my divorce, when I had to go to court, and you have to do so much on your own, and (sighs) it's hard enough.

- [Stan] Today, Taya can reflect back on her story with the benefit of hindsight.

- I try not to say that it was a bad situation, but it was something that was not healthy from the start.

Like if he didn't get something he'd want, he'd throw something across the room and it'd break, you know?

Or he'd break a mirror, he'd threaten me like, "If I can't have you, no one else can."

And as a young kid who didn't feel loved by very many people, I'm like, oh, he just loves me.

You know?

And that was part of the lie that I told myself.

- [Stan] When she finally built the resolve to leave, things turned violent and quickly spun out of control.

- Taya was the first victim I've truly thought was going to die, and that's because I had just convicted her husband of assaulting her, and he was not willing to let the relationship go.

- Harassment and stalking.

I would come out to my car sometimes from a restaurant and my door handle would be ripped off or my window would be pulled down so hard that it was broken or tires slashed.

It was every day for like six to eight months.

Came to my work several, several times, grabbed my arm, pulled me out of work.

I actually lost my job because he was scaring everyone.

- [Stan] Then in May 2016.

- I went to the grocery store with my partner that I was with, and we were sitting in her truck and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him running at us with a rifle pointed right at us.

And I panicked and screamed, and first thing I do is duck down, threw it in drive and drove off.

We're right in the middle of a really busy grocery store parking lot, 5:30 in the evening.

I don't know how, I have no idea how we made it through the parking lot and across the street.

- [Stan] Taya was persuaded by City Prosecutor Ben Halverson not to return home after that ordeal, a prescient warning as police would later find a hiding place there where her ex had hold up with the gun.

- I am so grateful that I had someone telling me, don't go home and I listened.

I seriously think that he saved my life.

- [Stan] Her husband was eventually caught and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Around that time, Ben had a caseload of about 600 new domestic violence cases a year, which only includes misdemeanors because felonies are handled by the county.

It doubled during the pandemic and his team has grown in response.

But his scope is still limited.

If a victim doesn't want cops and courts involved, there's not much he can do.

- A victim who wants services should not be premised on them participating in the criminal justice system.

It should not be a requirement of them to be able to get help.

If they get out of a bad situation, that's what matters.

- [Stan] He worries that if his office can't give someone what they need, that may be the end of the line.

- They may just simply give up after they've built all the courage to come ask for help in the first place.

Instead, at a family justice center, we can just send them down the hall to work with someone from the YWCA, a true advocate where they'll have confidentiality.

And if that is the outcome, that's a good outcome for everyone involved - [Stan] At a family justice center, prosecutors like Ben would be under the same roof as advocates like YWCA CEO, Erin Lambert.

- So, YWCA is a nonprofit social service organization and all of our programming here in Billings is specifically for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking.

- [Stan] They run a 24/7 helpline, emergency shelter, transitional housing, and other services like help with bills.

Erin hopes bridging the gap between social services and the criminal justice system would help the YWCA serve more people.

The need, she says, is great.

- In the last 90 days, we had 213 times that somebody called on the phone and we had to tell them that we didn't have room in shelter.

Obviously a family justice center won't fix the shelter capacity issue but it should help us with some of the case management and advocacy services and create some expansion and allow us to serve more people.

- [Stan] In September, the YWCA hosted a strategic planning session attended by city leaders, dozens of organizations, and a national outfit called the Family Justice Center Alliance, which helps develop family justice centers.

- Next, I'd like to invite Katie Nash who is the domestic violence investigator with Billings Police Department.

She's really the reason we're here.

This is her vision and she's really pushed it forward and I'm thankful for that.

- The system, the courts and police only serve a fraction of the victims in this community.

The YWCA sees a lot of victims and survivors that I never get a chance to work with.

We can't claim to have a safe community when people are not safe in their own homes.

- [Stan] Leading many of the sessions was Casey Gwinn, who started the first Family Justice Center in 2002 in San Diego.

There are now more than 130 centers around the country making countless resources accessible through a single door.

The time that saves can save lives, for as Taya can attest, time is something victims often don't have.

- I had to work, I had to pay the bills, I had to do all of these things.

So he was keeping me busy with all these things so that I couldn't go file for divorce or couldn't, I didn't have the money to.

- [Stan] And it's more than mere convenience.

It's also about stopping escalation in its tracks.

- The nature of domestic violence, it's about control.

And so when an offender loses control of a victim because she has contacted a divorce attorney or contacted a landlord to get a different apartment, that kind of thing, that sets off a red flag for the offender that their control is slipping.

So, if the victim could access all the services in one location, it would help extricate her from the dangerous situation potentially before it turns even more dangerous.

- [Stan] Offenders also rely on isolation to keep control, something a team approach can undermine.

- I think it also lets victims feel empowered that they have a community behind them kind of wrapping them in support takes the power away from the offender.

- [Stan] Katie was the investigator on Taya's case.

- [Taya] Katie was the one that just I felt safe talking to.

I am so, so grateful for her.

- So in every family justice center that we develop all over the United States, we always challenge them to create what we call a Voices Advocacy Committee.

And it is usually local survivors that have experienced domestic or sexual violence that wanna give back.

They wanna advocate for change in systems.

We want all that feedback from survivors because our fundamental value is to be accountable to them.

- I think being in a building that is well-lit up and known, I mean easily accessible, preferably like downtown because I feel like secrets are probably the number one reason things aren't brought to the surface.

People hide things, they're embarrassed, they're scared.

I mean, making that first step to go somewhere and then just feeling that inviting, warm, safe place.

I mean, it's like then you have no more secrets, then you can move forward.

- It's completely community designed.

There's not this larger government agency or this consulting firm that's coming in and saying, "You know what, Billings really needs is this type of family justice center."

- [Stan] Ellie Stanton came to Billings as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer to help coordinate the planning process.

- It's community members coming in and saying, "I really want to have housing authorities in my family justice center.

I really wanna have a yoga studio.

I really wanna have a hair salon because after getting interviewed by a cop, I really wanna get my hair done and feel good about myself."

- I think maybe even yoga, like part of that being like the animals, you know, and having that- - Kitten yoga.

- Wellness.

- Yes.

I love the equine.

I love, I mean, horses are probably one of my favorite things in the world.

It's just, yeah, - [Stan] Erin hopes to include services for children that witness domestic violence.

- The reality is we know that kids who are exposed to trauma grow up and either end up committing acts of violence within the family or tend to be victims in the future.

And I've been doing this long enough, I've seen kiddos that I knew who were here with their mom come for shelter as adults when they had their own victimization.

- Breaking the cycle is a shared goal.

- I've been doing this job for almost nine years and I've already prosecuted sons of fathers did the exact same thing, and that is more depressing than any other part of the job is just seeing a child who had no chance.

- [Casey] Family justice centers are crime prevention initiatives at the end of the day.

Yes, you're dealing with those who've harmed others, but your real goal is to break that cycle, intervene so it doesn't happen in the next generation.

- [Stan] And letting victims and survivors know they're not alone, - Then that's why it's like just hits so close.

Like I wanna be able to give someone that strength.

- I will never forget Taya.

She taught me a lot and I am so beyond proud of her.

I am even more thrilled that she's willing to share her experiences in this process because it's one thing to hear it from me, but it's another to hear it from her.

- [Stan] Apart from teaching yoga and her job as a dental assistant, Taya has also taken up a role as a reserve firefighter and EMT.

It's a chance, she says, to help others.

- I love it, I feel like serving people gives me a purpose.

I am so much stronger than I have ever been and I think part of where I am at now comes from having the strength to stand up for myself way back then.

- [Stan] For Impact, I'm Stan Parker.

- The local organizers are waiting for a report from the National Family Justice Center Alliance to guide the next steps to establish the Billings location.

Those are our stories for this show.

Coming up on the next episode of Impact, a special investigative report on the longstanding practice of using treated sludge to fertilize farm fields and create compost for home gardens.

The Environmental Protection Agency is only beginning to analyze the dangers.

We'll examine some of these chemicals and reveal our own test results during this Impact investigative special.

Until then, I'm Breanna McCabe.

For all of us at Montana PBS, thanks for watching.

(gentle uptempo music) (gentle uptempo music continues) (gentle uptempo music continues) (gentle uptempo music continues) - [Announcer] Production of Impact is made possible with support from the Otto Bremer Trust.

Investing in people, places, and opportunities in our region.

Online at ottobremmer.org.

The Greater Montana Foundation.

Encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.

And viewers like you who are friends of Montana PBS.

Thank you.

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