BOZEMAN, Mont. — It’s a visible and growing crisis: homelessness in Bozeman. The Regional Housing Coalition believes this is because the city is a hub of service providers for unhoused people.

HRDC Emergency Shelter is a large provider serving people throughout southwest Montana. Last year, 90 people from Belgrade, 21 from Three Forks, 24 from Big Sky and 54 from Livingston were housed by HRDC.

As the demand for additional shelter and transitional housing continues to grow, the Unhoused to Housed Initiative is working to solve the problem. Over the past year, the group created the Gallatin County Regional Homelessness Strategy.

The One Valley Community Foundation serves as facilitator of the strategy development process.

Officials say the goal is to bring the right voices to the table to support an approach to tackling homelessness.

“We want to make sure everyone is at the table from start to finish, so that once the strategy is created, everyone has a say in how it was created so we can all work together to develop concrete solutions which are presented. in the strategy,” said Mark Bond, community engagement manager at One Valley Community Foundation.

Key elements of the strategy include expanding access to transitional housing, implementing safe parking programs to provide temporary relief, gathering feedback from unhoused people, and applying national models to guide efforts regional.

HRDC is one of many stakeholders who contributed to the creation of the strategy.

Officials say it’s helpful for community leaders to know there is a priority for achieving different goals.

“We’re all listening, we know what the priorities are, we’re all pushing in that direction, and knowing that as funding and other resources become available, that’s where they should be going directed,” said Heather, CEO and President of HRDC. Attic.

Currently, each element is being refined to ensure strategies can be used effectively to combat homelessness.

“Finding concrete ways to break it down and really making sure that we put all of this work into action so that the strategy turns into an action plan,” Bond said.