After Zoe Johnson entered foster care at age 9 or 10, she lived in roughly 40 places over the next several years. Johnson said that while her life improved when she turned 18, she faced a new kind of housing crisis — finding an affordable place to live in Missoula.
Although Johnson received a housing voucher that covered a majority of her rent when she turned 18, she faced other barriers.
“Everywhere wants double deposit or a cosigner if you don’t have enough rental history,” she said.
Johnson, now 22, bounced around multiple apartments, living alone and with a former partner for no more than a year in each place, before moving into housing nonprofit Homeword’s new four-plex in Missoula’s Riverfront neighborhood, named “the Cube,” in April.
“Now that I finally have my housing locked down, I’m not worried right now about food, I’m not stressing about rent, I’m not stressing about internet, all of these basic things,” Johnson told Montana Free Press. “I have enough energy to put towards taking care of my dog, taking care of my mental health, going for walks, going to school, getting my GED. Things that I never thought were possible for me are happening just because I have a good place to live.”
Homeword, a Missoula-based nonprofit, purchased the four-plex last year to provide housing for young adults transitioning out of foster care, a population particularly vulnerable to homelessness, according to a study commissioned by the nonprofit and Missoula County as part of the Just Home Project. In 2024, the county and Homeword received a $246,250 grant from the MacArthur Foundation and Urban Institute to participate in the national program and plan local strategies to disrupt the cycle of homelessness and encounters with the criminal justice system.
Karissa Trujillo, Homeword’s executive director, told MTFP that based on the report’s findings, the organization decided to move forward with housing projects for young adults transitioning out of foster care and people impacted by domestic violence. Homeword used a grant and a low-interest loan from the MacArthur Foundation for the Cube’s mortgage and for property improvements, including fixing the deck and renovating the four units, she said.
Trujillo said it’s too early to fully assess how the program is working, but it’s exciting to try something new and support young people who are clearly in need.
“Providing that stability to youth that have had a lot of instability, we hope that can make a positive impact in the trajectory of their lives,” she said.
The goal is to house 18- to 24-year-olds, but tenants can stay as long as they like, Trujillo said. Renters will likely move out of the small one-bedroom apartments as their circumstances change or their households grow, she said.
Homeword receives referrals for the Cube from Youth Homes, a Missoula-based nonprofit that runs group homes and programs for youth in foster care, in crisis or facing abuse, trauma or substance use issues. Andrea Graham, a transitional living services manager with the nonprofit, said she helps foster youths ages 14 to 21 figure out their education, employment, transportation and housing. Graham said young adults aging out of the system typically lack rental history, credit and cosigners and have minimal savings to pay for things like deposits and application fees.
“It has been the biggest struggle for these youth as they look at becoming adults, just having a safe place to land at age 18,” she said.
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Most youth aging out of foster care are eligible for a specific voucher that requires them to pay 30% of their income for housing but covers the rest, even if they are unemployed, Graham said. But most property management companies won’t accept a renter with a voucher if they don’t have a job, limiting options, she said. Some companies that accept new renters with vouchers require cosigners or deposits twice what’s typically required, Graham said. Youth with limited resources could rent from the Missoula Housing Authority, but those apartments typically have waiting lists, she said.
Graham said she wants more property managers and community members to realize that assumptions that teenagers, especially former foster youth, will cause trouble are untrue and close doors for youth in need of an opportunity to move forward with their lives.
“They have a right to be somewhere safe, too,” she said. “Some of them are making bad decisions, yes, but it’s not just flat across the board; that’s what happens with former foster youth.”
Graham said she is thankful for the Cube as another housing option for youth because its property management understands their situation and works through mistakes with first-time renters rather than charging fees or immediately evicting them.
Tori Rushfeldt, the Cube’s property manager, said she takes a more hands-on approach with the renters to explain the lease, educate them on their rights and potential lease violations and keep lines of communication open, thinking about what she needed at their age.
“My childhood was actually not super stable,” she said, “So it really resonates, like ‘Oh my gosh, if I had that, it probably wouldn’t have been so hard. I wouldn’t have had to go through what I went through.’ So then to be part of that is really why I was like, ‘Yeah, sign me up.’”
The first renter in the program moved into the Cube about a year ago and has since moved out. The other three moved in this spring.
“The first tenant literally signed her lease on her first day of her senior year and thanked me because that meant she didn’t have to drop out,” Rushfeldt said. “Housing is a basic need. … Just because you were given the wrong hand at birth, your family made some wrong choices, … doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t have the opportunity to do better.”
Rushfeldt said she tells the renters to call her with any problems or if they need anything, from a microwave to connecting with other programs. Renters also receive assistance from Youth Homes’ transitional living services and can access other Homeword programs, like free financial education, which Johnson said she’s taken advantage of.
“That’s been a big resource to me because I’ve definitely needed help with learning how to budget,” she said. “We don’t have people to teach us that, you know? I’m 22, and I haven’t learned really how to properly budget. … I think that’s invaluable.”
Rushfeldt said she feels the Cube will be successful if it gives renters tools to thrive and teaches them to depend on themselves.
“The Missoula community, if we want to succeed, we have to start with making sure people are educated and housed and supported in ways that are not readily available,” she said. “I honestly really hope that we can hone this in and it can become really successful, so more people can just hit copy and paste.”
Trujillo, Homeword’s executive director, said that once the Cube program has shown results, the organization wants to expand youth housing in Missoula and other communities.
Sitting outside the apartment building on what promised to be a hot July day, Johnson told MTFP there’s not enough support for kids who are in foster care, let alone those who age out of the system. The Cube offered an understanding and less intimidating housing option, she said.
“This place is centered around us and what we’ve gone through,” Johnson said.
That includes not worrying about losing her deposit for hanging things on the wall, such as her grandmother’s old piano books.
“I can make my space mine and not worry that these guys are going to charge and charge and charge me when I move out,” she said. “There’s a lot of relief coming here.”
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