MISSOULA — Members of the community gathered for yet another Missoula Urban Camping Working Group meeting on Wednesday, April 17.
Although no recommendations have been made yet on an ordinance about urban camping in the city, the group continued to hear different opinions and ideas in an effort to come up with a solution to the unhoused crisis.
Missoula City Council member Sandra Vasecka — who is part of the working group — says that the progress that was made was better in this meeting.
“I think we made incredible progress today. When the urban camping working group first started, I was a little bit concerned about the outcome of it, you know. Because there's so many people with so many different opinions from so many different stakeholder relationships," Vasecka said. "And I was wondering how in the heck is this actually going to work? And then after having all the meetings, Jenny Tribe has been doing a fantastic job facilitating the group,” Vasecka said.
There have been no agreed-upon recommendations so far with the group, but Wednesday's meeting gave members of the group a clearer picture of different topics that were talked about.
“I actually feel like we've made some progress, and I feel like we can actually get some specifications down and actually have some language and some guidelines on how to actually properly produce an ordinance that actually [will] work. Granted we still have a ways to go," Vasecka said.
"Once this working group is finished, then it'll come to [City] Council — to us — because right now we're supposed to take our council hats off, but that is incredibly hard to do," Vasecka continued. "But we've been trying and so after today, I think that we can actually get everything, all of our thoughts, properly produced together for the next meeting."
The next meeting — which was scheduled for April 24 — has been postponed. The time, date and location of the next meeting have not been made available yet. Vasecka hopes it aligns with her schedule so she can continue to hear what ideas members have.
“I guess more formulate our thoughts into actual specific ideas that can actually be implemented. Because right now there's just a very, very rough draft and we need to actually get it all put together So, I'm looking forward to the next working [group meeting]," Vasecka told MTN. "I finally put everything together and then the real work begins with the City Council,” Vasecka said.
Some topics that were discussed were what can and cannot happen on city property, what can and cannot happen to parked vehicles and or RVs, buffer zones, what should and should not be established in city properties, and lastly what should be considered a violation and how that can be enforced.
“It has been incredibly stressful for the community. My biggest concern coming into this has been the financial implications. What I mentioned at the beginning of the group — one of my, incentives and interests for this group was financial, because with the high property taxes that went up. And then you with all the assessed values that went up, you can't sell your house if you have such a terrible problem of the houseless of encampments coming into your private property," Vasecka said. "So then you can't sell your house. And then if you are a business owner, and then you hit that problem [that's] twofold because then customers will come into your business if that problem is spewing out and then it's just incredibly stressful for our community."
While members of the Missoula Urban Camping Working Group acknowledge that the topic of the unhoused is controversial, Vasecka says that she wants every stakeholder to feel like they were heard and listened to in the conversation.
“I also am accountable to the people. I meet at the park...in my ward in my neighborhood. And they are concerned about their children's safety, they're concerned about their safety, they're concerned about needles and drug use and vandalism of the parks," Vasecka explained. "And it's just that there's a lot of different avenues and a lot of different hats I have to wear with this."
"So, I guess what I want to see coming out of this is that I want to see a solution that the stakeholders are for. I don't know how to properly say this too without offending anybody; I want us [and] every stakeholder to come to a compromise. And I hope that this isn't a compromise where everybody walks away, unhappy," Vasecka continued. "I want this to be so that everybody does walk away...with something that they feel like they were heard and they feel like something that they brought to the table is in the ordinance.
Vasecka also said that she too would like to enjoy the trails and parks of Missoula with the potential ordinance.
“But with a big community and with a lot of stakeholders and a very huge issue that's been exponentially accumulating for years, it's going to be difficult. I hope to be able to walk on the trails and be able to go down to the river and be able to walk my kid underneath the bridges again. I really hope in a safety and financial, safety and financial implications are the biggest concern of mine."
