Addressing Houselessness with Compassion and Fresh Ideas

One of the greatest challenges in addressing houselessness is holding onto our empathy and compassion for those struggling to meet their basic needs. Too often, quick fixes such as criminalizing the unhoused cost us more in the long run through incarceration without addressing the root causes.

Our unhoused neighbors are a diverse cross-section of our community, and our response must be equally diverse. That means resisting knee-jerk reactions and focusing instead on long-term solutions that balance the needs of individuals with those of the broader community.

Missoula’s investment in affordable housing has shown promising results, and more opportunities are on the horizon. Affordable housing is critical in combating houselessness, particularly as gentrification prices people out of their homes. Today, too many are living in their cars, working multiple jobs, and still unable to afford a safe place to live.

Programs like the Mobile Support Team, created through the City’s 2020 adoption of the Missoula Crisis Intervention Team, have proven highly effective in providing crisis intervention across our community. Investments in shelters such as the Poverello Center and Johnson Street are also important steps forward, even while we acknowledge the challenges they can create for surrounding neighborhoods. For example, the Johnson Street shelter provided vital safety and stability, but its size placed a heavy burden on nearby residents.

We can reduce these impacts by creating more shelters with fewer residents in each. Smaller, more numerous shelters would lessen the strain on surrounding neighborhoods and allow staff to provide more personalized care. This approach would create more options to meet the nuanced needs of individuals while making it easier to support their transition into stable housing.

With a tailored system, a person in crisis could first go to a shelter focused on immediate stabilization and then move to another designed to reunite them with family or help secure permanent housing. This is how we build a system that truly meets people where they are, supports their journey toward lasting stability, and strengthens our community as a whole.