Shelter Initiatives

Please join us at two upcoming events to engage in conversation about the Johnson Street Shelter.

August 22, 6:00pm-7:30pm - Join the Mayor, City staff, and community partners at the Franklin Elementary School Gymnasium from 6:00pm-7:30pm to hear information about the Johnson Street Shelter and engage in conversation about questions. This event has a speaking agenda and will begin at 6:00pm.

September 6, 5:00pm-7:00pm - Join neighbors, Poverello Center staff, City staff, and community partners at the Johnson Street Shelter, 1919 North Ave W, between 5:00pm-7:00pm to mingle, explore the shelter, and ask questions. This event does not have an agenda. The public is welcome anytime during the 2-hour window.

Missoula is experiencing a houselessness emergency. This emergency, during which many people in Missoula are living without shelter, affects every member of the Missoula community. Our housing crisis, combined with a short supply of shelter space and sharp increases in home prices and monthly rental rates, has led the City of Missoula and Missoula County to act. The reopening of the Johnson Street shelter is the emergency response that makes the most sense in the short term. The City of Missoula owns the building, it is outfitted to serve as a shelter and our contractor, the Poverello Center, is experienced at providing shelter and services there. The shelter is funded by the City and the County through August of 2024.

This is not a permanent solution, and City staff and area partners are exploring the needs and the options.

In 2020, 2021 and 2022, the City of Missoula established an expanded Emergency Winter Shelter Program at the Johnson Street Community Center with support from Missoula County. This temporary shelter served up to 165 people each night during the winter months, initially in response to the pandemic. It preserved hundreds of lives of individuals who otherwise may have frozen to death in bitter temperatures. The Poverello Center continues to turn people away most nights because it is full. The Mayor, Missoula City Council members and the Missoula County Commissioners believe a strong community comes together to help those in need. Though the 2020 emergency shelter was thought to be a temporary, one-year endeavor, the life-saving resources the Center has provided for multiple years have been imperative in keeping people safe.

Beginning in mid-September, the City of Missoula, Missoula County and the Poverello Center are again partnering to provide the emergency shelter program in the same location at 1919 North Ave. W. for one year. The Poverello Center’s trained, professional staff will operate the shelter. The shelter will serve one hot meal every day, with sack lunches available. The Johnson Street Center will be staffed and open around the clock, except for one hour in the morning when it will be closed for cleaning. A local security company will work to secure public safety on the shelter property and in neighboring City parks and on trails throughout the tenure of the program. The staff at the Center will do all they can to be a good neighbor. This is a top priority. We recognize that the Center’s presence brings successes and challenges to the community. We appreciate the neighborhood’s patience as we continue the program for another year and move towards future permanent solutions. We know this shelter impacts the neighborhood, and we encourage the neighbors to reach out with questions and problems.

Watch the Housing, Redevelopment, and Community Programs Committee from Wednesday, July 26. The Houseless Programs team and City staff provided an update on plans and progress toward the effort to re-open the Johnson Street Shelter to create additional shelter availability in Missoula. Staff outlined what has been done so far and what lies ahead, including community outreach and funding plans.

Mayor Jordan Hess on Friday declared a houselessness and sheltering State of Emergency to address the unprecedented increase in people living without shelter in our community. This declaration allows the City to levy up to two mills to address houselessness and sheltering. This funding, in combination with funding from Missoula County and cooperation from our nonprofit partners, will help operate an emergency shelter that will be open year-round. We hope to be able to open the shelter in about 90 days. Read the mayor's letter here.

Missoula’s Emergency Winter Shelter closed for the season on April 10. The shelter slept an average of 116 people a night through the winter, serving as a lifesaver for many people.

Missoula residents will see an increase of people looking for shelter in the urban area. Some people will stay at the Poverello Center, Missoula’s year-round, independent homeless shelter, and some will find stable housing. Others are attempting to shelter in tents and vehicles, sometimes in public places. There will likely not be enough indoor shelter for all.

The City of Missoula attempts to balance the needs and expectations of people who are living unsheltered with the needs and expectations of residents who own homes and businesses. Local governments in the nine Western states covered by the federal Ninth Circuit Court are operating under a ruling by the court that says that cities cannot enforce anti-camping ordinances if they do not have enough homeless shelter beds available for the homeless population.

In Martin v. Boise, the Ninth Circuit court held the Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause, part of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, "prohibits the imposition of criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter." The Ninth Circuit extended this ruling in the Johnson v. Grant's Pass opinion, stating that the Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause also prohibits criminal enforcement against homeless individuals who use "the most rudimentary precautions" a homeless person might take against the elements, such as bedding, blankets or sleeping bags.

City staff members respond to complaints as they are able and actively investigate complaints about growing encampments. We are able to enforce health and safety codes and keep rights-of-way and public spaces open for public use. We are not able to remove people and their tents or vehicles simply for camping. We are navigating the epidemic of people living unsheltered just as all cities in the West are doing.

As a first response, we work with the Homeless Outreach Team of the Poverello Center and outreach staff from Hope Rescue Mission. Team members make contact with people camping in public places to talk with them about alternatives and solutions. When we determine that a camp must be evacuated and cleaned up due to public health, safety or environmental hazards, City staff members post the campsite with at least a two-day notification to campers to remove their belongings. City staff then work to remove all hazards, including garbage and hypodermic needles.

Reporting hazardous urban camping

• If you are in immediate danger or believe a crime is being committed, call 911.

To report a camp that is growing, hazardous, causing public health or safety concerns, preventing the use of public spaces or blocking public right-of-way, use our complaint form. You can also view our weekly urban camping reports.

April 19, 2023

The Houseless Programs Team in Community Planning, Development, and Innovation is excited to host a community event at Burns St Bistro on April 5 at 6:00 p.m. to share the completed Evaluation of Reaching Home: Missoula’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness directly with community members interested in learning more. We are also holding a virtual event on Microsoft Teams on April 11 at 1 p.m. for those who cannot attend in person. The evaluation was completed by JG Research and Evaluation (JGRE) and final products include a full-length version, a quick look version, and an infographic. Huge thanks to everyone who took time to interview, complete a survey, or join a focus group, especially those who bravely shared their personal experiences of being unhoused or at risk of losing their housing. You can also watch a recording of the presentation of evaluation findings to City Council.

The Houseless Programs Teams in CPDI is excited to share the completed Evaluation of Reaching Home: Missoula’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness. The evaluation was completed by JG Research and Evaluation and final products include a full-length version, a quick look version, and an infographic. The quick look version and infographic were written and designed with more accessible language to hopefully make the information more available to all neighbors in Missoula. Watch the Houseless Programs Team and JGRE presentation to Council's Housing, Redevelopment, and Community Programs Committee on Weds. 3/8 at 2:00. More information to come soon about additional events to talk about report findings with community members.

The City of Missoula and its partner Missoula County will close its Authorized Camping Site on Clark Fork Lane as of November 16. The City and County will open the Emergency Winter Shelter at the Johnson Street Community Center on October 31. Staff at the camping site and staff from partner agencies will work with residents who are staying at the camping site to find alternatives for shelter, whether at the Emergency Winter Shelter or elsewhere.

The City and County set up the camping site as an emergency option during the pandemic around the time of prohibition of illegal camping under the Reserve Street Bridge in late winter of last year, excluding the people who were living there. The Authorized Camping Site is not viable for the long term without significant improvements, as it lacks heat, plumbing, sewer connection, air conditioning, adequate staffing and a stable funding source.

The Emergency Winter Shelter at 1919 North Avenue West, can sleep 135 people and shelter and warm 150 people. It offers a hot meal every day, along with packaged lunches. It is staffed around the clock with professional, trained staff.

The City of Missoula will discuss this year’s Emergency Winter Shelter program at the Franklin to the Fort Neighborhood Council Leadership Team meeting on Thursday, Oct. 6, at 6 p.m. at the park shelter in Franklin Park. The meeting is set to run until 7:30 p.m. All interested members of the public are invited. City staff members will talk briefly about this year’s project and answer questions.

This year’s Emergency Winter Shelter will once again be an expanded program at the Johnson Street Community Center at 1919 North Ave. W. This building, owned by the City of Missoula and set for eventual redevelopment, will offer shelter for up to 135 people per night through the winter, Oct. 31 through March.

The City, along with support from Missoula County, will once again partner with the Poverello Center to operate the Emergency Winter Shelter. An additional part of the program will be professional security for the neighborhood around the shelter. Contracts with the Poverello Center and a security provider will be considered by the City Council on Oct. 12. The City and County will also hold an open house at the shelter on Thursday, Oct. 27, 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Wednesdays with the Mayor is a monthly civic conversation at the Missoula Public Library. In April, the topic was homelessness in Missoula. City staff members Emily Armstrong and Sam Hilliard led the discussion. They work hands-on in the programs the City and its partners have created to work toward solutions for people who are unsheltered in Missoula. Watch the video on MCAT's YouTube channel.