The fight against homelessness in a thriving Montana city is a warning and a model for the West.

• Homelessness is rising in Missoula as housing costs rise and shelter capacity is limited.
• A new regulation regulating outdoor sleeping is causing more people to seek shelter services.

Housing costs and homelessness have risen sharply this year in the Western Montana city of Missoula.

For the first time this year, the city’s largest emergency shelter was open year-round, not just during the cold winter months. Jill Bonney, executive director of the nonprofit Poverello Center, which runs the city’s only two shelters for adults without children, said they are already operating at near capacity.

“Honestly, I thought we’d have 50 or 60 people at night, but during the summer we averaged 120 people,” Bonnie told Business Insider. She added that her shelters simply cannot accommodate the number of people still sleeping on the streets in the city of about 79,000 people.

Homelessness and shelter occupancy rates have risen sharply in Missoula over the past few years. Between 2021 and 2023, the city’s two main shelters saw a 53% increase in the number of nights provided to homeless Missoula residents. It’s also a statewide problem: In Montana, homelessness increased 551 percent between 2007 and 2023. biggest increase in the country.

And this is directly related to rising home prices in Missoula and across the state. Especially after the pandemic popularized remote work, the flow rich grafts stunned the housing market, driving up rents and home prices. Missoula’s struggles with rising housing costs and homelessness reflect issues plaguing much of the West and Sunbeltwhere transplants have moved en masse in recent years. But his efforts to improve affordability and address homelessness could pave the way forward for communities facing the same challenges.

Advocates for those experiencing homelessness say more needs to be done. The city recently cracked down on homeless people due to Supreme Court decision allowing people to be fined or arrested for sleeping in public places, even if there is no shelter there. Local lawmakers say the city needs more state and federal money to help the homeless.

Homelessness surge

The city recently began tightening its crackdown on homelessness, citing a surge in public complaints about public camping. In June the city council adopted a resolution prohibits camping between 8am and 8pm on city property, and council expansion discussion prohibit overnight stays in city parks.

Since the anti-camping ordinance went into effect in July, city shelters have seen an increase in people looking for a place to stay, a hot meal or even just a place to go during the day, Bonney said.

Bonnie wants the city to invest in more shelters, transitional housing and a permitted “crisis camping” area where people who don’t want to move into a shelter can live in tents.

“If we’re going to tell people where they can’t be, we need to tell them where they can,” she said. She also says the city desperately needs to invest in more mental health and substance abuse treatment services.

There is one temporary solution in place near downtown Missoula. The nonprofit New Hope Ministries has teamed up with county officials to create temporary housing in hard shelters where people experiencing homelessness can find some stability before moving into permanent housing.

City Councilman Bob Campbell, who co-sponsored the camping ordinance, said the city does not have the resources to provide shelter for every homeless person.

“There’s not much we can do, at least from a city perspective, from a municipal budget perspective, to solve this problem,” he said.

Campbell said he plans to join a city delegation that will visit the state Legislature next year to ask the state for more funding to address homelessness and housing issues.

Building more housing is key to solving homelessness

Affordability is a driver of homelessness in Missoula and across the United States.

Missoula average house price has increased from $310,000 in 2019 to $545,000 today. It’s a statewide problem: Montana’s housing market has been called least accessible in the country this fall. It’s a statewide problem: Montana’s housing market has been called least accessible in the country this fall.

Montana has made great strides in addressing housing affordability issues. The state Legislature recently supported many bipartisan housing policy dubbed “Montana miracle“housing advocates who are dedicated to making it easier to build denser housing.

Missoula is doing more than many other Western cities to invest in housing. The city is preparing to approve new land use plan This will lead to an overhaul of city zoning laws and development codes, legalizing denser housing construction throughout the city. Campbell hopes the updated policy “will do a much better job of allowing many different types of housing to be built in Missoula that didn’t exist before.”

Bonnie agrees that building more housing should be the first step. “If I could snap my fingers and something would be fixed — we need more housing and we need more supportive housing,” she said.

Soaring home costs have many longtime Missoula residents wondering if they can afford to stay put. David Stalling, a Marine Corps veteran and wildlife advocate, has lived in Missoula for over thirty years. He loves the progressive college town where he can spend mornings up north watching grizzly bears in their natural habitat. But he is thinking about leaving.

Since losing his home to foreclosure in 2006, Stalling, 62, has struggled to pay the $1,200 rent on his studio apartment, which has risen from $900 when he moved here three years ago. Stalling, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and substance abuse, wants the homeless in Missoula to receive the same vital support he received from the government as a veteran.

“We shouldn’t let some billionaire live in a giant mansion in the Bitterroot and help destroy everything we hold dear while good people sleep in the cold,” Stalling said. “It’s just wrong.”

Are you dealing with homelessness or unaffordable rent? Share your story with this reporter on [email protected].