Are Homeless People Being Shipped To Great Falls? Answered

Facebook has had some interesting rumors lately about homeless people and I wanted to find out if there is any truth behind it.

I have started seeing an increase in the homeless population recently and rumors online say that Washington is packing them up and shipping them out where ever they can.

READ MORE: Fastest Growing City In Montana

Are Out Of State Homeless People Taking Over In Great Falls?

There are a few places in Great Falls that allow homeless people to be on their property to provide them with a safe space including the Great Falls Rescue Mission and other similar locations.

I spoke with Carrie Matter, Development Director at the Great Falls Rescue Mission to see if they have had an increase of people from out of state and they told me they have heard the same rumors and typically hear the same around this time every year, but largely the people they are serving at the rescue mission and other shelters in the state are people from Montana.

What Does The Rescue Mission Do?

The Rescue Mission serves around 17 counties including Cascade and surrounding counties with a majority of the people being from Montana. Carrie did mention there are some that move out of state and come back but those are a a very low percentage.

READ MORE: Homeless Crisis In Montana

She also said Billings, Missoula, Kalispell and Butte shelters would agree that they rarely see anyone from outside of Montana. Carrie also said the mission does not reserve beds and don't typically take in requests from other states. There are not bus loads of people being dropped off.

Whether from Montana or not, I for one am glad that our city has the resources to be able to help people no matter where they are from.