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Until this summer, if cities in many states wanted to ban homeless people from sleeping in public, they had to first offer them another place to go, like a shelter. A Supreme Court ruling eliminated that requirement. Now some cities talk of getting rid of shelters altogether. Montana Public Radio's Aaron Bolton reports.
AARON BOLTON, BYLINE: Shortly after the Supreme Court ruling in June, the city council in Kalispell, Montana, started talking about closing the privately-run Flathead Warming Center, a shelter serving one of Montana's biggest population centers. Council members claim it attracts homeless people and that they commit crimes.
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UNIDENTIFIED COUNCIL MEMBER: First action item, saving Resolution 6213 - Potential Action on Conditional...
BOLTON: At city council meetings, people that live and work near the shelter said they felt unsafe. Local salon owner Tonya Atlee told city council members she lost customers.
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TONYA ATLEE: I work late at night, and clients ask, do you need me to walk you to your car? It's like, no, I'll figure it out. Go ahead. You know, lock the doors. And I'm just - I'm here to tell you it affects us.
BOLTON: In September, the council revoked the two-year-old shelter's zoning permit, closing its doors just ahead of winter. Council members didn't link the decision to revoking the shelter's permit to the Supreme Court decision and declined interview requests on the topic. But Eric Tars, with the National Homelessness Law Center, says that since the court's so-called Grants Pass ruling, several cities have tried to close shelters or prevent them from opening.
ERIC TARS: The Grants Pass decision removed a strong incentive to create these shelters.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Today, we are serving turkey wraps.
BOLTON: At a free lunch at the Salvation Army, Mae Dutton - who is homeless - says there's a real need for a shelter here.
MAE DUTTON: I'm living in a vehicle right now and just need it - food, you know? - when you can get it.
BOLTON: Dutton struggles to carry her plate as one arm is in a sling from a recent accident. That's prevented her from finding work and housing. As winter temperatures set in, Dutton says it would be hard to survive here without a shelter.
DUTTON: I just hope that they can stay open and help people because so many people are going to be suffering (crying).
BOLTON: The Flathead Warming Center is suing Kalispell, arguing it's trying to make homeless people disappear by closing it. The city isn't commenting. The shelter pushes back against the city's claims that it draws homeless people here. The shelter's director says locals are being forced onto the streets by skyrocketing housing costs. Federal data says Montana has one of America's fastest-growing homeless populations. Attorney Jeff Rowes, with the Institute for Justice, represents the Warming Center. He hopes to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
JEFF ROWES: The city of Kalispell took away their right to shelter the homeless. And if the city of Kalispell can do that, then it's open season on the homeless everywhere across the country.
BOLTON: The Kalispell case is still working its way through federal district court. The shelter is open for now under a preliminary injunction. Rowes says cases like this are the new frontier.
ROWES: If cities can criminalize sleeping on public property, they can't destroy the rights of private property owners to shelter the homeless there.
BOLTON: Arguments in the case here have not yet been scheduled.
For NPR News, I'm Aaron Bolton in Kalispell, Montana. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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