MISSOULA - Missoula city officials and Poverello Center employees cleared out the tents on Cedar Street near the YWCA thrift store Thursday morning.
The decision is part of the annual city clean-up of Cedar Street in partnership with the Poverello Center.
People have been able to return to the site once it is cleaned for the last three years. However, this year presents a different challenge.
The YWCA is beginning the deconstruction of its administration building, so people will need to stay clear of the area.
Poverello Center executive director Jill Bonny says it will be up to the YWCA if they will allow people to return after the deconstruction concludes.
People that were sleeping in the area were informed about ten days ago, according to Bonny.
“I think the biggest struggle is that people don't know where to go,” Bonny says. “They know that they're not supposed to be in parks. And so there just really is not another location for them to be.”
All shelters in Missoula are at or near capacity, and a recent city ordinance has made it illegal to sleep overnight in city parks.
Bonny says the homeless outreach team can’t offer suggestions on where to go, but rather emphasizes where they should not go. For example, they remind people to stay out of parks where children or camps may be.
The outreach team tries to keep track of where everyone moves to so they can continue to provide them support.
“You know, there's a handful of individuals that were staying over in that space that are getting really close to a housing opportunity,” Bonny says. “And so when they disperse and scatter throughout the community, then it makes it really hard for outreach workers to be able to continue to stay in contact with them, so that they know where they are when that housing opportunity comes up.”
Bonny says until a long-term solution for housing is established, Missoulians will continue to see houseless people camping on streets and in parks.
“We're just gonna continue to struggle with this until there's other options available. My hope is that we can open the Johnson street shelter and have it open year round and we can do that before the end of the summer. But people don't have a place to go and we're just going to continue to see this until there are other options.”
