Shelter WF ramps up fight for housing as legislative session approaches

Shelter WF is a relatively new organization that has been gaining traction in Whitefish. Their mission, to confront housing inequality and empower political participation to create homes, is one that is striking a chord with many.

The volunteer, grassroots organization is gearing up for the legislative session and has recently added two paid employees, including coordinator, Kendall Schneider and lobbyist, Jake Brown.

Schneider says her role is to help with member recruitment and host events, both educational meetings and community-building gatherings.

“A lot of the events… are educational events, so bringing people in and actually talking about building in Whitefish and deed restriction, how to actually get involved,” Schneider said. “But then we also want to hold events that are just very community-based. So it's purely people getting to see other people in the community and building that bond.”

She says that politics and the lingo involved can make it difficult for many people to understand how things work and that Shelter WF tries to demystify the process and show them how they can get involved and show their support.

One way they are helping is by encouraging people to share their housing stories in a variety of areas, including public comment at council meetings.

“The personal story is the one that makes the change. On Monday, at the city council meeting, we saw people come out and tell their personal stories that were really moving about their housing situation in Whitefish,” Schneider said. “So I think that oftentimes the most important thing people can do is vocalize their own story about the struggles they may have had or how they’ve been raised in this community their entire lives and they absolutely love Whitefish and they want to stay here because it's brought them so much joy.”

Shelter WF supplies content via its website and other social media platforms to show people, among other things, how to make effective public comments.

“I really like the human side of it because it does get really political and it can often be hard to understand that… these are human’s lives,” said Schneider. “Even if it's just telling a friend your story, or going to the city council, or reaching out to Shelter WF so we can publicize your story.

Putting a face to the actual problem is really important. Everybody has a story about housing these days.”

The recent approval of the Depot Park Townhomes was a victory for affordable housing and Schneider says the next major project is the Whitefish Corridor Community, which would supply 44 affordable rental homes for Whitefish residents. She said it will come to the planning board early next year.

NATHAN DUGAN is the co-founder and president of Shelter WF and says they are excited to have Schneider working with them, as the board has been busy ramping up for the next legislative session by clarifying the organization’s priorities.

As part of the governor's Housing Task Force, Dugan is supporting abundant housing-type policies, like allowing fourplexes in neighborhoods and accessory dwelling units to be built by right, like they are in Whitefish.

He said the second priority involves property tax relief issues.

“We’ll be fighting for policies that are targeted towards people that need the help, not just giveaways to the people that are already the wealthiest in Montana,” he said.

The third big policy area they are concerned with relates to tenants and renters — increasing their rights and their ability to have housing that is stable.

Additionally, Dugan said there are draft bills that will require refunding of application fees to people that apply for apartments and don’t get them.

“It’s a big issue we’ve seen where people have to spend hundreds of dollars on application fees and they end up not getting any of these apartments, so it's become a revenue generator for landlords or larger corporations,” he said.

He said Shelter WF is supporting actions that will not add to the problem.

“We want to focus on things that are not going to exacerbate our issues and force more people into homelessness or unstable or bad living situations in the meantime while we’re trying to ramp up supply,” he said.

While Shelter WF shares information freely on its website and social media platforms, membership fees help pay for travel expenses. In the upcoming months, the board will be traveling to Helena frequently.

“You don’t have to be a member to stay informed on things. We’re still going to keep you informed about what’s going on, what bills are coming, what we need to testify and organize against or for,” he said. “We certainly would appreciate the help to be able to make all the travel.”

For more information about Shelter WF or to join, go to: https://www.shelterwf.org/