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On one of my first reporting assignments, almost six years ago, I watched state Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, build a sweat lodge in front of his house on the Blackfeet Reservation.
As he bent willow branches to form a dome, Running Wolf said something along the lines of, “You know, if you wanted to build a house on your land, you could dig a hole in five days. If I wanted to build a house on my land, I might be able to dig a hole in five years.”
I didn’t know what he meant at the time, and as a green reporter, I didn’t ask. But his words stayed with me.
In 2023 I investigated the life expectancy gap between Native Americans and their white neighbors in Montana. When I asked people about possible solutions, their answers almost always circled back to housing. Lack of housing, they said, kept health care professionals from working in the community. Lack of housing meant people experiencing domestic abuse or recovering from addiction had nowhere safe to live. I thought again about what Running Wolf had told me.
When a former colleague and I reported on tribal colleges last year, education leaders told us that students who left the reservation to advance their education often struggled to bring their new skills home because there was no place to live. I returned again to Running Wolf’s comment.
For more than a year I’ve been investigating housing insecurity in Indian Country. With support from the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, my reporting took me to Hollywood, Florida, where I attended a national tribal housing convention. I spent time on all seven reservations in Montana and sat down with leaders from every tribal housing authority in the state. I took a homeownership class at the Salish and Kootenai Housing Authority. Perhaps most meaningfully, I spent time with reservation residents who invited me into their homes.
I drove 5,156 miles in Montana reporting this project. I interviewed 98 people. They taught me that lack of housing thwarts the development of a middle class on reservations, perpetuating cycles of poverty and undermining economic development. I learned that a patchwork of historical and conflicting federal policies have congealed over the course of more than a century into an unwieldy system of property ownership on reservations that creates often-impassable roadblocks to development. And I learned that the community-building benefits of secure and stable housing aren’t just a theory — they’re visible in the lives and livelihoods of reservation residents who have found a house to make a home.
This week, in partnership with Lee Montana newspapers, MTFP published The Shelter Gap, a three-part series investigating the causes and consequences of Indian Country’s housing crisis. Part 1 explores the economic impacts of chronic housing shortages on reservations. An accompanying photo essay offers a snapshot of life in an overcrowded home — a reality shared by thousands of Indigenous families across the state. Part 2 is the story I wish I could’ve read when Tyson Running Wolf told me it would take him five years to begin to build on his property. It explains why it’s so hard, and so rare, for commercial and tribal developers to build housing on reservation property, despite high demand and plenty of land. Part 3 shows what can happen to a community when residents, against the odds, are able to achieve stable housing.
I hope you find the series worth reading too.
— Nora Mabie
Following the Law ⚖️
The state’s approach to disclosing climate impacts in its regulatory decisions has entered Montana’s judicial arena once more.
On Sept. 29, Montana Environmental Information Center filed a lawsuit against the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, alleging that the state failed to properly consider and disclose the climate impacts and greenhouse gas emissions associated with Yellowstone County Generating Station, a gas plant NorthWestern Energy opened in Laurel in 2024 that was forecast to emit more than 23 million tons of atmosphere-warming greenhouse gases over a 30-year operational life.
In its complaint, MEIC resurfaced a pair of rulings the Montana Supreme Court issued in the past year. The first is the Held v. Montana decision, where justices sided with 16 young Montanans who argued that Montana’s permissive approach to regulating fossil fuel plants jeopardized their constitutionally protected right to a “clean and healthful environment.”
Two weeks after the state’s highest court released that order, justices examined a similar set of issues raised by environmentalists in the context of the permit for the 175-megawatt YCGS.
In the latter decision, the Supreme Court directed DEQ to “conduct an adequate analysis” of environmental impacts associated with the plant, including “evaluating [greenhouse gases] in its analysis of YCGS’ air quality permit.” But the court didn’t give the state much detail about how it should fulfill that task, and MEIC alleges that the analysis it generated doesn’t pass muster.
“DEQ failed to take a ‘hard look’ at the climate-related impacts of YCGS’s greenhouse gas emissions — including direct, secondary and cumulative impacts — and no-action alternatives or potential mitigation measures to avoid those impacts, as [the Montana Environmental Policy Act] requires,” according to the lawsuit.
MEIC and Northern Plains Resource Council have asked the district court to toss out the analysis DEQ did and order it to create a new one “that complies with MEPA, the Montana Constitution, and the Montana Supreme Court’s directive” in the January decision regarding the gas plant.
— Amanda Eggert
Verbatim 💬
“Working with the [Governor’s] Office of Budget and Program Planning, DPHHS has determined it can continue operating federally funded programs for at least 30 days. DPHHS will continue operating programs, and federally funded staff will continue working.”
Department of Public Health and Human Services spokesperson Jon Ebelt in an emailed statement Oct. 1 describing the state’s short-term funding reserves for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Montana’s Women, Infants and Children nutrition program for pregnant women and new parents. The federal government shutdown became official that day at midnight.
— Mara Silvers
Public Comment 🗣️
The Montana State Library Commission is soliciting public input on a proposal to loosen state standards for the number of hours a week libraries are required to be open to the public.
The rule change, which the public can comment on through 5 p.m. on Nov. 7, would reduce the current minimum-hour standard by 30%. For example, the requirement for libraries serving populations of less than 3,500 would be reduced from 15 hours a week to 10.5 hours. Libraries serving populations of 25,000 or more would have their standard reduced from 50 hours a week to 35.
The rule change would also tie the minimum hours requirement to an annual average as opposed to a firm weekly requirement, a change that would open the door to libraries posting longer hours in some seasons of the year and shorter hours in others.
Suggesting the idea at a June meeting, Library Commission Vice Chair Tom Burnett said that visits to some Montana library systems have declined over the past decade. Statewide, Montana libraries recorded 3.2 million visits in 2024, down 32% from 4.7 million in 2014. The number of Montanans with a library card has also declined, from 48% in 2014 to 35% last year.
Other commissioners said in June that the proposal wouldn’t require hour cuts, but would rather give local library commissions greater flexibility as they manage their budgets.
Commissioner Carmen Cuthbertson suggested that, for example, small libraries could use the flexibility to put a greater share of their budgets toward digital resources.
“Depending on where you are, you may be able to better serve your patrons by spending your money on something else and not your facility being open,” Cuthbertson said.
Comments on the proposal can be submitted through Nov. 7 to Montana State Library staffer Victoria Gersdorf at 406-444-3384 or [email protected]. It will also be discussed at a virtual meeting set for 9 a.m on Nov. 3.
— Eric Dietrich
Follow Up ↪️
The state-contracted rehabilitation and monitoring program for doctors, nurses and other health care professionals struggling with addiction and mental health issues may be headed for an overhaul.
In light of a critical audit report written by nonpartisan legislative staff, recent reporting by Montana Free Press about a participant suicide and sharp questions last month from concerned lawmakers, the Gianforte administration’s Department of Labor and Industry in September launched an advisory council to recommend changes to the scope and purpose of the program designed and run by the current vendor, Virginia-based Maximus, Inc.
In their first meeting the evening of Oct. 2, members of the advisory council unanimously recommended that the labor department extend Maximus’ contract until the end of 2026 while the council works to reimagine the program and give input about what to require of future vendors.
Some members pushed for a shorter, six-month extension based on a range of concerns over what they’ve heard about Maximus’ program: that participants are overwhelmed and disillusioned by its punitive nature, are struggling with the financial costs of drug testing, and generally feel unsupported.
“It’s not working,” said Jean Branscum, an advisory council member and the president of the Montana Medical Association, an industry group that represents physicians. “Patients, meaning the individuals that are participating in the program, aren’t getting better.”
Like other states, Montana is required by law to provide an addiction monitoring program that helps many types of medical providers safely continue to practice. As of Oct. 1, the program is paid for by licensees of six professional boards: The Board of Medical Providers, the Board of Nursing, the Board of Pharmacy, the Board of Dentistry, the Board of Chiropractors and the Board of Veterinary Medicine, bringing the total number of covered licensees to more than 62,000.
The state selected Maximus to run the program beginning in 2023, after the former longtime nonprofit vendor, the Montana Professional Assistance Program, lost the contract under a cloud of allegations from employees about harassment and a hostile work environment.
The transition — which also included a monthlong attempt to have state employees from the labor department operate the program — shook many licensees. Former MPAP participants interviewed by Montana Free Press often endorsed the nonprofit’s model of monitoring, saying it was based on strong networks of peer support, compassionate understanding about addiction, and firm accountability about sobriety and workplace safety. When Maximus took over, many recounted, they felt punished and judged.
Advisory council members on Oct. 2 generally acknowledged the dissatisfaction with Maximus’ style of program and the need to transition to a different type of contract. But many members also said they did not want another tumultuous program upheaval.
“I really think it’s in our best interest and our licensees’ best interest to not rush it,” said Russ Motschenbacher, a member of the Board of Nursing. “I think it is best to at least do a six-month to a year extension, so we can have that time to do some thoughtful evaluation of what we want to go into the next contract.”
Several endorsed the advisory council drawing on the expertise of addiction medicine specialists, mental health providers and others with experience rehabilitating health care workers.
In an apparent reference to recent reporting about the death of Amy Young, the nurse in Maximus’ program who died by suicide this year, one council member suggested that future contracts could do more to make participants feel supported, as many said they were under the prior program run by MPAP.
“There’s been press about a failure,” said Jim Guyer, a member of the Board of Medical Examiners. “There was perhaps something that could have been done to prevent that. But I think if we go back and look at what we had before, what was good about that, what impact that had, and compare that to where we are now — Maximus is not much of a counseling service, they’re a compliance service. And it’s not been working very well for us here in Montana.”
Several council members expressed the desire to collect more testimony and data from participants about their experiences. Although many have spoken publicly about their experiences and urged reform through media interviews, there is not an advisory council position set aside for past members of the monitoring program. No one spoke during the public comment portion of Thursday’s virtual meeting held via Zoom.
The council did not set a date for its next meeting before adjourning.
— Mara Silvers
Viewshed 🌄
From the left, Sixto Cordova and his sister, Reba Perez, along with Tonya Ridesatthedoor and Karl Spitzmacher are all clients at the Watershed Navigation Center in Missoula, seen here Sept. 10. The center was built as part of an affordable housing project adjacent to the Missoula County jail and aims to connect unhoused people or those recently incarcerated to resources to help curb recidivism. Watershed includes a clinic offering medical, dental and behavioral health services, staff to help connect people to housing and other resources, free laundry and lockers.
— Lauren Miller, Katie Fairbanks
Highlights ☀️
In other news this week —
- The state got money in July for a parenting program at the prison, but it’s not operating yet.
- There’s hope and dispair in Bozeman as a new ban on urban camping arrives.
- The federal government shut down.
On Our Radar 
Matt — I love deep dives into industries that I know little about. The Walrus, a Canadian publication, has a feature story about the modern, data-driven book publishing industry that fascinated me.
Katie — One of my favorite fall rituals is kicking off the season with a pumpkin-flavored treat. These pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies are soft and tasty, with the perfect combination of pumpkin and cinnamon.
Zeke — Your taste in music has nothing to do with whether you listen to Taylor Swift’s new album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” Participate in the 21st century. Put on the music that will define it.
Mara — In preparation for moderating a Helena candidate forum next Oct. 7, I’ve been poring over old plans and proposals for city infrastructure projects that seem to have gotten stuck in red tape or bureaucratic silos. One example: Whatever happened to the plan to redevelop Cruse Avenue, the quasi-highway connector courtesy of 1970s-era Urban Renewal? Helenans, send the projects or dysfunctions you can’t stop thinking about to [email protected].
Eric — How exactly did one track down an answer to a burning pop culture trivia question back in the days before every minor celebrity had a Wikipedia page? This AskHistorians subreddit thread about how you could have researched “Weird Al” Yankovic’s family history circa 1985 is a good reminder that the internet has in fact made certain types of knowledge much more accessible.
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