A motorhome. A friend’s house. Camping or staying in a hotel. This is where a handful of people staying at the Johnson Street homeless shelter planned to sleep Tuesday night after the shelter permanently closed that morning.
More than a dozen people gathered outside the shelter in Missoula’s Franklin to the Fort Neighborhood late Tuesday morning as staff began cleaning out the building.
Jennifer Ruefenacht, waiting in the shade for a friend to pick her up, said she had stayed at the shelter since mid-July after losing her housing to a fire. Before that, Ruefenacht lived with her husband and friends in a house in Milltown, she said. Her husband died in February, and she was in the hospital when the fire happened, Ruefenacht said.
While Ruefenacht said she is on a few waiting lists for a chance to move into affordable housing, she doesn’t have income right now.
“It sucks they’re closing this place down,” she said. “It’s been great.”
The shelter closed on Tuesday after a five-month phased closure and the city’s “housing sprint” effort to house as many Johnson Street residents as possible. In the days leading up to the closure, city staff and service providers told Montana Free Press they hope to continue collaborating to get more people into housing.
“There are a lot of options out there, and it takes funding and somebody willing to run them,” said Jill Bonny, executive director of the Poverello Center, Missoula’s only other shelter for single adults. “My hope is just that we can figure out something besides just telling people they have to find a new spot every day to hunker down and try to sleep. … It’s just not working. Everybody’s doing a lot, and we need to figure out how to do more.”
As of Aug. 22, 51 people secured housing or other “permanent positive solutions,” such as reunifying with family or friends, as part of the housing sprint, said Emily Armstrong, the city’s houseless programs manager. That number will increase over the next several weeks as people are able to move into housing, she said.
On Tuesday, Libby, who declined to give her last name, said she and her boyfriend planned to camp somewhere or try to find money for a hotel. Libby said she moved to Missoula with a friend earlier this year under the impression they had a place to stay. She’s been staying at the shelter for the last two to three months and is trying to save up for a vehicle.
“I’m on like four waiting lists, but those can take forever,” she said.
For 73-year-old D.J., who only provided his initials, the shelter was a welcome alternative to the Poverello Center, where he struggled accessing a bunk bed because of medical challenges.
“They let everybody in as long as we treated each other with respect,” he said. “It was a good thing.”
D.J. said he grew up in Missoula and spent decades driving semitrucks. He recently got a motorhome and probably won’t stay in Missoula, he said.
“If prices keep going up, the more homeless people there are going to be,” he said.
When the closure was announced in March, 140 to 160 people stayed at the shelter each night, and the building had a capacity of 165.
In August, the shelter’s “phased-down” capacity was 30 beds. On average, 40 to 45 people signed up for the daily lottery that determined who could stay the night, Bonny said. The organization, which ran the Johnson Street shelter, had about 15 to 20 open beds at its Broadway shelter as of last week, she said.
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The city of Missoula will close the Johnson Street temporary homeless shelter in August, a decision driven by the end of pandemic-era federal funding that paid for its operations.
While staff have encouraged people to stay at the Broadway shelter, many preferred Johnson Street because they felt safer in that environment, could sleep next to friends or partners, and it’s easier to have pets there, Bonny said. The closure will likely prompt some people to move to the Poverello Center, and more will come when the weather gets cold, she said.
“At that point, the lottery system will be enacted here, and people won’t have a place because there’s just not enough room for everybody in here,” Bonny said.
There is no reliable data on how many people are living unsheltered in Missoula, Armstrong said. As of June, 664 households, which include individuals and families, were enrolled in Missoula’s coordinated entry system, which connects homeless people with housing resources and support services, according to the Missoula Organization of Realtors’ data dashboard.
Bonny said she’s heard people say that once the shelter closes, they won’t see unhoused people in parks or on trails.
“That’s not true,” she said. “I think it’s going to be more visual; people will see more because they don’t have a place to go. They’re not going to disappear. Not unless we can get them housed.”
The Poverello Center began operating the Johnson Street shelter in November 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic cut the main shelter’s capacity. The temporary shelter operated as a 24-hour winter shelter for three seasons and was paid for by the city and county. After a spike in the unsheltered population in the spring and summer of 2023, the Johnson Street shelter reopened that September with funding for one year of year-round operations. Last year, the Missoula City Council approved another year’s worth of funding for the shelter.
Bonny said before the Johnson Street shelter opened in 2020, the Poverello had to get creative to find somewhere for people to go during inclement weather.
“We’ve been really appreciative of this building and the funding to be able to run the shelter for the last five years,” she said. “And I know that our partners and the community will be behind us to go back to piecing together solutions for people as much as we can.”
In March, the city announced the shelter’s closure, citing the lack of funding. The city contracted with the Poverello Center to run the shelter and split the $1.8 million bill with Missoula County. The governments used COVID-era federal funding to cover the cost, but that money has run out.
Many Poverello staff members who worked at the Johnson Street shelter have found other jobs, and temporary staff filled gaps, Bonny said. Some will move over to the Broadway shelter, she said.
Bonny said it’s been “rough” for staff to manage conversations with guests who are worried about where they will stay when the shelter closes.
“When it really hit staff hard was this last month when the cap dropped from 70 to 30, because up until that time we didn’t have to turn anyone away, and at that point we did,” she said. “That’s been really difficult for them, and especially because there is room in the building. … So that’s been a really difficult part of this process for our staff.”
Armstrong, the city’s houseless programs manager, said previously that the phased closure is similar to what’s been done in other locations and would help avoid having a “significant number” of people lose shelter overnight.
The Poverello Center is typically busier in the colder months, but this year will be different because staff and the people they serve are used to having Johnson Street as an option, Bonny said.
“We do anticipate there being more people outside of our [Broadway] building,” she said. “More people, that I’m not sure where exactly they’re going to go, but hunkered down in places to try to stay warm.”
The Poverello and other organizations are discussing options for opening more spaces for people to go during extreme weather, like they did last year with some churches, Bonny said.
The Poverello’s Homeless Outreach Team will have their work cut out for them as former Johnson Street residents disperse into the community, Bonny said. The city’s rules restricting camping on city property have already made it more difficult to locate people from day to day, she said.
“It’s going to be harder to reach people and connect them to resources and get them supplies that they need to stay safe,” Bonny said.
While it’s unclear what housing sprint strategies may continue, Bonny said it would be exciting if similar flexible funding were available. Up until now, many people would tell Poverello staff they couldn’t get into housing because they couldn’t afford the deposit or they had an outstanding debt, she said.
“People getting housing out of the housing sprint shows that some funding can help with barriers,” Bonny said. “If there is a way to continue having some funding available for those types of things, I think that work can continue.”
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Missoula service providers call for community support to help city’s homeless people
The city of Missoula’s plan to house as many residents of the Johnson Street homeless shelter as possible before closing it in August will require collaboration and support from much of the community, housing officials said.
As part of the housing sprint, city staff, service providers and the Missoula Interfaith Collaborative’s Housing Advocate Network volunteers held “office hours” at the shelter twice a week to work with shelter residents or anyone who needed housing. People who stayed at the shelter for at least one night between Jan. 1 and March 31 were eligible for housing sprint funds.
The United Way of Missoula County administered the fund, which raised $220,777 as of Tuesday, said Susan Hay Patrick, the organization’s CEO. Of that, Missoula County contributed $125,000, the city contributed $25,000 and the Missoula Redevelopment Agency pitched in $44,420. As of Aug. 27, about $148,000 had been spent on a variety of costs, including rental deposits, housing applications, rent, utility bills, other debts and moving costs, Armstrong said.
Hay Patrick said the variety of uses shows that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for helping people secure housing.
The sprint fund is similar to the United Way’s housing solutions fund, which provides money to prevent people from losing their housing or to get them housed, Hay Patrick said. That fund has been closed since November after running out of money but should reopen this month, she said.
“The money goes really fast,” she said. “We know it’s really successful. The advantage of the housing solutions fund is that we can, in 48 hours, get a check out the door to a landlord or property manager. … The HSF gives more flexibility. It’s able to be deployed for a broader set of uses, like application fees that are really a barrier to a lot of people.”
When the fund reopens, $250,000 will be available. Hay Patrick said she hopes to attract more attention to it this fall during annual fundraising.
“We would love to have the housing solutions fund stay open year-round with a reliable source of funding that is a mix of public and private money,” she said. “It’s too big a lift for any one agency alone. It’s definitely in everyone in our community’s best interest to house unhoused people, and the housing solutions fund is a good way to do that.”
Final referrals for housing sprint funds were due Friday, and the city will review them and process funding over the next couple of weeks, Armstrong said.
During the sprint, city houseless programs staff have acted as liaisons between landlords and tenants, provided incentives like increased deposits to help individuals secure housing and discussed other options with landlords, Armstrong said.
Securing housing for people with violent or sexual offenses has been the most challenging, Armstrong said. Missoula also has limited housing options for the significant number of people with a fixed monthly income between $800 and $1,100, which is “simply not an income range that can afford to rent a home in our community anymore,” she said. A lack of substance use and behavioral health treatment beds statewide also makes it difficult for those seeking care to transition into stable housing, Armstrong said.
Zeke Campfield, the Housing Advocate Network director, said the sprint has demonstrated the benefit of sitting down with people and asking the right questions to uncover options that might have felt limited. That dozens found housing shows that housing is a real possibility for a lot of people experiencing homelessness, he said.
“When we can have volunteers and everyday people help with those who can access housing, it allows providers to focus on those with the highest barriers and allocate resources for those facing greater barriers and challenges,” Campfield said.
Addressing barriers was easier with multiple providers, including the Missoula Housing Authority and Job Service, all in the same room, Campfield said. The sprint also provided an opportunity for residents to be involved, he said.
“This is a community challenge,” Campfield said. “I’m inspired by the volunteers and people in our community who were willing to take some time to sit down and help people, and can see that it works and can make a difference.”
The city and service providers will “debrief” in the coming weeks and evaluate next steps, Armstrong said.
The Housing Advocate Network plans to hold “office hours” twice a week starting Sept. 15 at the Watershed Navigation Center on Mullan Road. The organization is seeking more volunteers and will hold an orientation on Sept. 10. Campfield said he hopes other partner agencies will join to continue the work of the last five months.
“The housing sprint may be ending, but the marathon effort of our community coming together to provide this level of intensive, collaborative support will continue,” he said.
The Missoula Municipal Court will begin holding its shelter court, recently renamed ComMUNIty Court, at Watershed on the last Friday of each month. The municipal court program, which holds court proceedings at the Poverello Center and, up until this month, the Johnson Street shelter, is an effort to resolve low-level cases often delayed by failures to appear in court, according to the city.
Stephen Thompson, the court programs administrator, said that since 2022, the shelter court has grown to include other resource providers. While it will continue operating at the Poverello Center each month, the shelter does not have enough space to host multiple providers, he said. Along with monthly court sessions at the Watershed Navigation Center, the program plans to hold “pop-up” events throughout the community to reach more people, Thompson said.
“Our whole intent was to meet people where they’re at,” he said. “By losing the shelter, it’s difficult to meet people where they are because they are dispersed.”
The court is holding its first “pop-up” at Watershed Friday, Sept. 5. Thompson said the event will include free lunch, haircuts, bike repair and other resources to draw more people.
Bonny, the Poverello Center executive director, said she hopes to see other options for people going forward. That may not be another large shelter, but smaller spaces or programs like the Temporary Safe Outdoor Space. Living outside is challenging for people who are disabled or working or trying to find a job or housing, Bonny said. While a focus on getting people into housing is important, unhoused people also need to have their basic needs met, she said.
“Part of the reason the housing sprint was successful is because there was the Johnson Street shelter sitting there and a building where people were staying or knew to come to meet with people to help them,” Bonny said. “If there was no building and you are just trying to find people outside, it makes it a lot harder.”
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