BUTTE, Mont. — The issue of homelessness has been a major concern in the Mining City. Recently, I spoke with a group of neighbors living in the vicinity of a public walking trail where a homeless encampment had sprouted up, bringing with it concerns about drug use, crime and even the threat of wildfire.
Those camps have since been cleared, but that doesn’t mean the issue of homelessness has been solved, at least not yet.
"It’s not like something you think about. It’s something that you just naturally do because you’ve become accustomed to that life," said Henry Celli. He goes by his middle name "Joe."
Joe has been living on the Mining City streets for 20 years.
WATCH: Butte organization works to end homelessness
"There’s a certain feeling to being out on the streets. It’s not all bad, you know? It has its good moments, too," Joe said.
Joe is not struggling with addiction or mental health problems, but recently he had open-heart surgery, and after the surgery he was dropped off in a hospital gown at Action Inc. in Butte where a team has been working to find him a warm, safe home.
Five years ago, Joe says a friend of his froze on the street outside the Civic Center. He knows Butte winters can be brutal. For the first time in two decades, he will not have to spend a winter on the streets.
"I’ll be 76 on the third of November, and at my age, it’s time to get off the street. It really is," he said.
Now Action Inc. serves many levels of people living in and working to get out of poverty. The organization has programs for everything from housing assistance to education at the local Head Start. Action Inc.’s mission is dedicated to developing pathways to economic stability.
"We have 61 people on our list right now, which I am very proud to say because, you know, a year ago we had a 180," said Margie Seccomb, Action Inc. CEO.
Seccomb says barriers like substance abuse and serious trauma impacting mental health act against the unhoused person, but after the organization implemented a housing-first model a few years ago to tackle the problem of homelessness, Seccomb has seen how the approach helps stabilize people.
"Stabilizing housing is the thing that you do before you start wrapping the services around them because you gotta have stable housing in order to work on those things," Seccomb said.
Seccomb and her team are part of a larger group of organizations working to get the homeless population in Butte to zero.
As winter approaches, Joe fills out paperwork for a low-income energy assistance program to get help heating his new apartment.
"Housing-first works, and it has worked in this community... when we first started, at the peak, we had 195 people unhoused in our community, which is a lot for a community this size," Seccomb said.
"This place is a blessing. Action inc does a lot of good for a lot of people. They help a lot of people. They’ve been really kind," Joe said.
