FAQs
How was the Strategy developed?
Many sources of qualitative and quantitative information guided strategy development, including: local houselessness data, focus groups with unhoused Missoula residents, a community town hall event, and multiple interviews with community leaders and others working to address houselessness in Missoula.
A local Leadership Group oversaw the Strategy’s development. The Leadership Group included 16 members that represented various sectors across Missoula, including local government, tribal nations, housing, healthcare, houseless services, behavioral health, faith communities, neighborhood associations, and local businesses. Nearly one-third of the group included neighbors that are currently houseless or have experienced houselessness in the past. The Leadership Group met monthly for nine months to finalize the On Our Way Home Strategy.
How is this Strategy related to the last 10-year plan to address houselessness?
Missoula has adopted houselessness-focused strategic plans, including Reaching Home: Missoula’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, in the past and those plans have yielded valuable solutions, such as the creation of the Missoula Coordinated Entry System. This Strategy identifies actions to overcome the three main barriers to reducing houselessness in 2025 and creates an approach to addressing houselessness that is flexible and can adjust as the times and needs do. The Strategy includes new approaches not included in previous strategies that are responsive to the current challenges. Having a Strategy that coordinates the efforts of all parts of the Missoula community will ensure that we work together and stop increases in houselessness in our community.
How does this Strategy relate to plans/strategies that other groups in Missoula have developed?
Missoula systems of care have created several other strategies or plans to improve a specific system that impacts houselessness, including affordable housing (A Place to Call Home) and behavioral health (Charting a Path Forward). This Strategy depends on the success of these plans and is not duplicative or counter to any other Missoula plans. Houselessness is often the result of people falling through the cracks of other systems of care, so many of the other strategies may have an impact on houselessness. At the same time, we need a community effort that focuses specifically on addressing houselessness, because houselessness is complicated and has community-wide impacts across all systems.
Who will be responsible for moving the Strategy forward?
A Coalition comprised of decision-makers from all sectors with an impact on houselessness and people representative of the houseless population will be formed to oversee and drive forward the Strategy. This may include: people with lived expertise of houselessness, leaders from City, County and Indigenous Nations, and representatives from the business community, healthcare, funders, faith communities, neighborhoods, and non-profit housing/service providers. Development of the Coalition may involve a restructure of the At Risk Housing Coalition (ARHC) or development of a new collaborative body. Establishing this Coalition will be the first step after the Strategy is adopted.
What will the City’s role be?
This is a community strategy that was created by the community and will be community-led. The City is one of many community stakeholders seeking to make meaningful impacts in addressing houselessness and will continue to work alongside partners in this area. City staff may provide administrative support to the Coalition and at least one City representative may hold a seat on the Coalition.
How will we achieve the goals of the Strategy?
The purpose of the Strategy is to focus on the primary challenges that currently exist in community efforts to address houselessness. The Coalition will be responsible for developing annual goals and specific action items needed to meet those goals, as outlined in the Strategy. This will include identifying and connecting to the expertise and resources needed to move towards those goals.
Why aren’t there specific target dates/specific action items in the Strategy?
The Strategy acts as a framework for the Coalition to set more specific goals and action items. They will create an annual workplan that includes specific dates by which to achieve actions and goals.
How will the work to carry out the Strategy be funded?
Most communities braid funding from different sources to support efforts to address houselessness. We will look to various federal, state and local (City and County) funding sources that are available to resolve houselessness and increase housing, as well as trying to leverage funding from other sectors such as health care, foundations, faith based/service organizations, and private contributions.
Why are the primary strategies not focused on specific issues that we know contribute to houselessness (e.g., low income, lack of affordable housing, need for behavioral health resources)?
The strategies included in the On Our Way Home Strategy will help build the capacity and funding needed to directly address some of the contributing factors to houselessness and the stability of the local houseless response system. The Strategy focuses on the main structural barriers making it difficult to address individual systems or issues. As Strategy implementation begins and addresses some of these larger barriers, the intention is that the Coalition will develop annual action items and goals that will directly address some of the other downstream needs and challenges. For example, we must first increase service provider capacity and increase funding before we are able to increase supportive housing availability. In addition, other existing plans focus on these intersecting issues, such as affordable housing and behavioral health.
Why does the Strategy not address the urban camping ordinance adopted by the City in 2024?
The Strategy will function at a higher strategic level to help address systemic barriers to addressing houselessness and the sustainability of the houseless response system. The Strategy addresses upstream concerns to create a system that can function in a way that can address this very real issue. Ultimately, we hope that the approaches outlined in the strategy will decrease the inflow of neighbors living in unsheltered environments and increase the availability of transitional and supportive housing that those neighbors may transition into.
What is happening with the Johnson Street shelter?
The Johnson Street Temporary Shelter is currently operating with funding through August 31, 2025. The current contract between the City of Missoula and The Poverello Center is a two-year contract running from September 1, 2024, through August 31, 2026. The second contract year is contingent on whether a second year of funding can be identified.
Missoula City Council passed Resolution 8729 in September 2023, committing the city to commencing the Johnson Street Property master planning process within one year with the goal of completing demolition and site preparation of appropriate buildings within three years. Missoula Redevelopment Agency entered into a contract with GGLO at the end of 2024 to begin the process of creating a redevelopment plan for the North MRL Triangle.
On Our Way Home Strategy A, Action 2 (page 9) states as part of the strategy to "Relocate and reimagine the current Johnson Street shelter to one that responds to gaps identified by the community and people with lived expertise."
How will the community stay informed on Strategy progress?
Page 12 of the Strategy includes a variety of measures that include what we will track and sets our expectations for success. The Coalition will track progress on each measure and provide regular reports to the community at least annually.