Dear John,

I have some good news to share with you: The Flathead Warming Center in Kalispell, Montana, will reopen for overnight services! Yesterday, a federal judge granted a rare preliminary injunction allowing this private shelter to operate while our lawsuit continues in court.

Although temperatures here at IJ’s headquarters are unseasonably warm, in Kalispell, temperatures will dip into the low 20s next week. And it’s only going to get colder. People who would otherwise be sleeping in bushes and on benches throughout the city will now have a warm bed.

Judges are often reluctant to grant preliminary injunctions. To secure this ruling, we had to show that our underlying case is likely to succeed. That is particularly challenging in cases like this one, where courts are reflexively deferential to regulators. This early win is a promising sign that we are on track to achieve our ultimate goal of setting precedent to protect the right of people and nonprofits to use their property to address a public problem—without unnecessary government interference and where previous government efforts have largely failed.

IJ filed this lawsuit last month to build on our success in North Carolina, where we scored a resounding win for the Catherine H. Barber Memorial Shelter. And unlike in North Carolina, the Montana shelter had been operating in the same location for years with the city’s permission and without issue—until the city attempted to revoke its permit with no justification.

This lawsuit is part of our recently launched Zoning Justice Project, which seeks to untangle the restrictions that prevent Americans from using their property peacefully and productively, both for their own use and to solve problems in their communities.  

You can learn more by visiting the case page ([link removed] ) . Thank you for standing with IJ.

Scott

Scott G. Bullock

President and Chief Counsel

Institute for Justice

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