MISSOULA — While the City of Missoula looks to the Legislature for more state support surrounding homelessness, it's also tracking the issue at home and the benefits of several programs.
On Wednesday, housing advocates provided the latest Houseless Programs Update, where they again touted the benefits of the city's shelters, its partners and the programs it supports.
But funding remains tight and some efforts remain unfunded in the next fiscal year, including the Johnson Street Shelter.
“The current contract we're operating under is a two-year contract, but we only have one year of funding tied to it,” said Emily Armstrong, the health and programs manager at the city. “The second year of the contract would be contingent on an additional allocation of funding.”
The shelter currently operates on $1.8 million in annual funding provided jointly by the city and country. That funding expires at the end of the fiscal year, though the need for the shelter hasn't diminished.
Since September, the shelter has served 559 unique individuals. The nightly population has ranged from a low of 97 people to a high of 208. The shelter averages 151 people per night, Armstrong said.
“We see kind of a fluctuation according to temperatures, of course, and also the time of month,” she said.
The city partners with the Poverello to manage the shelter and recently, it tasked the organization with tracking shelter occupants and how many leave the facility for housing or treatment.
According to the data, 20 people left the shelter in September while 10 did so in October. Another 13 left the shelter in November and six did so in December.
Jill Bonny, director of the Poverello, said the Johnson Street shelter has become an important part of its services.
“The operations and outreach contract is really important to keep our homeless outreach team expanded,” she said. “And I appreciate the Johnson Street shelter being open this year, especially with the high level of people we're serving.”
While the shelter's population remains high, calls for service within 1,000 feet of the shelter have remained steady over the past few quarters.
Police Chief Mike Colyer said the last quarter, which ended in December, saw 397 incidents within that geographic boundary. Of those, 16 were traffic stops while the incidents with the highest frequency included theft at 74, trespass at 31 and suspicious activity at 30.
“The calls for service are similar in volume, and the types of calls are similar for the last three quarters,” said Colyer. “This is all about a geographic footprint. The offender or the victim, or both or neither, may be related to the shelter.”
The city also provides the Poverello $211,000 annually for operations and outreach at its West Broadway facility. The city also has provided $70,000 to create a new strategy on homelessness.
Tuesday's snapshot followed Monday's announcement that the city successfully housed 12 homeless veterans over 60 days in what officials dubbed a housing sprint.
As the new fiscal year approaches and the city crafts a new budget, it will likely look to the successes gleaned from that effort to support programs with data-driven success and move away from programs with limited results.
“We're working on finding sustainable funding to make that possible,” said Armstrong. “Data is how we can make decisions we know and trust.”
