The Flathead Warming Center will be welcoming guests for overnight stays tonight. Federal Judge Dana Christensen has granted the Preliminary Injunction requested by the Warming Center following the City Council’s revoking of their Conditional Use Permit.
The Flathead Warming Center, through their attorneys Jeff Rowes and Christie Hebert, filed suit in Federal Court in reaction to their revocation of the Conditional Use Permit–which in effect, shut the center down. The City Council had received complaints from neighbors and businesses along North Meridian Road that the Warming Center’s guests were creating disturbances in the vicinity.
In his decision to grant the Preliminary Injunction, Judge Christensen wrote, “The Warming Center has established serious questions going to the merits of its procedural due process claim, thus demonstrating a fair chance of success on
the merits. The Warming Center has also established that it will suffer irreparable harm absent an injunction. The balance of hardships tips sharply in favor of the Warming Center, and a preliminary injunction is in the public interest.”
Warming Center Executive Director Tonya Horn tells us, “We’re elated that we can keep helping people through the worst of the winter. With this decision, we will be here to provide warmth, safety, and support to those who need it most.” She goes on to day, “This winter is expected to be harsh, and we’ll do everything we can to keep our community’s homeless residents safe and out of the cold.”
