MISSOULA — While the Missoula City Council voted to allow city officials to move people out of city parks at night, organizations and volunteers on the frontlines of houselessness say this is not a problem that can be solved with a simple piece of legislation.
The non-profit sector helping those who are unhoused say the issue of overnight camping will take the city of Missoula coming together to imagine solutions.
“I would hope that we as a community could figure out a more nuanced front-end approach to how we tackle poverty and people's resources not being met,” Missoula Interfaith Collaborative Housing Advocate Network director Zeke Campfield says. “In a way that doesn't feel like just kind of pushing people along and using the justice system, and the police, and the jails, and the courts as our most important response mechanism.”
The ordinance came after complaints of increased houseless people in city parks following the closure of the Johnson Street Winter Shelter on April 10, 2023. Other shelters in Missoula have little availability, forcing those staying at Johnson Street to flock to the parks.
“This closure of the winter shelter really has demonstrated that there is a need, post COVID, for year-round emergency shelter,” says United Way of Missoula County CEO Susan Hay Patrick.
The City of Missoula and Missoula Parks and Recreation cited public safety and health concerns as the main reason for the emergency ordinance.
Campfield notes that the majority of crime involving the homeless is committed against them, not by them.
“‘I’ll also say that when we live in fear of the other, and when we see certain populations as a threat, that doesn't create the conditions for understanding and empathy and healing,” Campfield says.
While there may be fines and violations for the people who refuse to leave city parks, Mayor Jordan Hess said at a Monday City Council meeting on Monday that they do not wish to incarcerate these people.
“This is not about criminalizing poverty,” Hess said. “This is not about criminalizing homelessness. This is about coming into compliance with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision and working through a very challenging situation.”
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision was part of Martin v. Boise in 2018, which made it unlawful for city governments to move houseless people out of parks without offering an alternative place to go.
While the ordinance does not restrict people from staying overnight on public lands, Mayor Hess admitted he did not have a suggestion for where these people should go, considering shelters in Missoula are full.
Hay Patrick recognizes that camping in city parks can pose an issue, citing the damage to the environment and possible health issues for those staying in tents. Still, this ordinance is not the solution in her mind.
“Moving people is not the answer to the problem, just like ignoring homelessness does not solve homelessness,” she says. “So I think it's a big dilemma for our community right now. And that's why we need year-round shelter. And I think the majority of council members understand that, and I want our community to understand it.”
United Way, along with eight other organizations, including the Missoula YWCA and Hope Rescue Mission, have sponsored a public letter urging the city council to allocate funding for a year-round emergency shelter. Hay Patrick says this will likely be in the same building as the Johnson Street Shelter.
The letter had over 120 signatures in 24 hours.
Campfield says the solutions to houselessness need to involve the entire community.
“I work for an organization that really leans into the community aspect, everyday people who are willing to just take a moment out of their week, to sit down and engage with someone who's facing challenges and accessing resources, specifically housing, and learn their story and be their champion,” he says. “Not to replace politics and not to replace funding and money and all the other things, but to complement it.”
Everyone involved, including the Missoula City Council and Mayor Hess, admits this is a complex issue with a complex solution.
The Housing Advocate Network will be hosting a volunteer orientation at the Missoula Food Bank Community Center on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, at 4 p.m. Campfield says almost every organization helping the houseless population in Missoula could use extra volunteers.
A public meeting to discuss with community members possible solutions will take place on June 26.
Donations towards a year-round emergency shelter and other housing solutions can be made to the Housing Solutions Fund on the United Way website. Missoulians can also sign the Housing Letter at that same website.
