No action or direction is needed at this time.  The YWCA plans to apply to the City for ARPA funds if the city chooses to grant ARPA funds to agencies outside the City.

-    YWCA has operated continuously in Billings since 1907. It is a 501(c)(3) that guided by its mission to save and change lives provides shelter and services at no cost to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.
-    YWCA’s Gateway Shelter is the only 24-hour, 365-days-per-year, fully-secured, full-service facility in Billings with specialized, trauma-informed shelter and services for these victims without pre-qualifications that limit their access to services and jeopardize their safety. From the time Gateway Shelter was built in 1998, it has nearly always been full. It is rare for a bed to remain empty for over 24 hours.
-    During the COVID 19 pandemic, domestic violence spiked by 40 percent, so lack of capacity and a need to protect the wellbeing of residents and staff led to placing vulnerable women and children in hotels rather than at YWCA’s campus where greater security and an abundance of supportive services are available. Hoteling is not only less effective in addressing the needs of women and children in crisis, during COVID YWCA expended $100,000 of un-budgeted funds on hoteling, which is not sustainable.
-    In addition to shelter and emergency services, YWCA provides extensive supportive services on its campus at no charge to victims. They include but are not limited to case management, legal counsel, financial counseling, jobs skills training and employment finding, and a housing program that has placed 450 individuals in housing the past two years.
-    YWCA’s programs help transitions victims into survivors and reduce the number of victims who return to their abusers thus decreasing incidents of violent crime and homelessness.
-    The Gateway Horizons shelter is a community project that will help address issues of domestic violence, public safety and homelessness and its economic impact on the community, which worsened during COVID and are not subsiding. 

Angela’s Piazza; Billings Police Department; Billings City Attorney’s Office; Billings Municipal Court; Billings Area Family Violence Task Force; City of Billings Community Development Division; Billings Clinic Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program; Community Crisis Center; Child and Family Services; Family Promise of Yellowstone Valley; Family Service, Inc.; Federal Bureau of Investigation; HomeFront: Partners for a Better Billings; Human Resources District Council (HRDC) 7; Mental Health Center; Montana 13th Judicial District Court; Montana Board of Crime Control; Montana Department of Health and Human Services; Montana Department of Labor and Industry; Montana Legal Services; Montana Rescue Mission; Montana State University Billings; Riverstone Health; Salvation Army; School District #2 Homeless Liaison; St. Vincent de Paul; St. Vincent Healthcare; Tumbleweed; US Attorney’s Office; US Department of Justice (DOJ); Yellowstone County Attorney’s Office; Yellowstone County Continuum of Care; Yellowstone County Justice Court; Yellowstone County Self Help Law Center; YCA Human Trafficking Task Force

City Council may provide feedback to YWCA regarding their critical project.

The $4 million construction cost will be funded through a combination of sources with $3 million of the funding already identified. The shelter is a community project which qualifies for ARPA and other aid and helps to address issues of public safety and homelessness without a requirement for annual funding support from the City. Therefore, fiscal support for the new shelter should be considered as a part of the City’s priorities for addressing violent crime and homelessness and the effects on public safety and the economic impacts if the shelter is not built.

-    The increase in violent crime in our community includes domestic violence which spiked 40% during COVID and is not subsiding. The Billings Police Department 2020 Report lists domestic abuse as one of the two leading types of violent crime in our community. And, domestic violence and poverty are the two leading causes of homelessness here in Billings. The women and children who come to YWCA are usually victims of both violence and poverty. Their potential for ending up on the streets is an area-wide issue that could result in millions of dollars of expense and impact to the City annually if it were not for YWCA.
-    YWCA Billings’ existing Gateway Emergency Shelter is a 22-bed facility built in 1998. It is the only 24-hour, 365-days-per-year secured domestic violence shelter in our city/county. Annually YWCA Billings has provided between 8,500 and 9,500 shelter nights for women and children victims of domestic violence. That means the shelter, which is a communal living facility is almost always at full capacity. COVID and rising domestic crime both create public health and safety issues. During COVID YWCA had to spend $100,000 to place victims in hotels to protect their health and safety. This approach is unsustainable.  
-    The new shelter will help address the region’s growing problem with homelessness and public safety and increase YWCA’s capacity to protect victims by 273%, assuring that more women and children have the services they need to rise above poverty and violence as well as homelessness. By reducing the number of women who return to their abusers, it also helps to address the number one community concern?public safety because it reduces the number of violent incidents which places pressure on police and the courts.