Local programs help disabled homeless veteran, wife find housing
The Missoula Current and the City of Missoula’s Built for Zero program and its partners are collaborating on a monthly series of stories, “Housing Veterans: Serving Those Who Served.” Watch for the Current’s stories on the 11th of each month through Nov. 11, Veterans Day.
Martin Kidston
(Missoula Current) Kimberley reaches the bottom floor of an age-restricted residential facility in Missoula before explaining her husband's condition – how he had a brain tumor removed many years before and still struggles with memory and speech.
In their apartment, William sits barefoot in a chair and quietly says hello. Three cats wander curiously around feet and legs when the couple begins their story of homelessness and the endless travel that brought them to Montana – first Dillon, then Butte and finally Missoula.
“Butte didn't have any resources for us,” said Kimberly, who asked that their last name not be used for safety reasons. “Him being a veteran, they recommended we come to Missoula. We were living in a motel here.”
William served in the U.S. Army in the 1980s working supply at the motorpool. Like some veterans, however, he struggled to find direction after leaving the service and lived for a time with his aunt, followed by his stepmother and father.
But soon he found steady employment with Walmart where he met Kimberly, who was also employed by Walmart as a cashier. Things were good and they helped each other out.
“I was in a hard position at that point,” said Kimberly. “He gave me an opportunity to make things a little easier for myself and my children. I had a man but he was not the kind of man a woman would want. He was a violent man and a sex offender.”
For more than a decade, things were safe with William and together the couple stayed busy with work and family. At least until 2020 when William began to feel odd.
He was working the dairy section at Walmart at the time but often lost track of his work. He calls it focus.
“For a long time I was OK. I could get it done. But I had started to notice that I couldn't focus as much,” he said. “I would mark a place where I left off and when I'd come back, when I went to do inventory, it didn't seem like the place I left off. I was having a hard time with it and everything.”
William was diagnosed with a brain tumor and was informed by his doctor that he could no longer work. The tumor was removed in Colorado Springs just before his 57th birthday. But the impacts of surgery kept him out of work and Walmart wouldn't take him back.
“My memory and speech were too messed up,” he said.
Not only was William out of work and unemployable, but Kimberly soon found herself working as his caretaker. It paid nothing and kept her out of work as well. Despite temporary housing, the challenges began to grow and by 2025, the couple hit the road in search of a better future.
From state to state they searched but couldn't find housing or the medical resources William needed. Living from their car, they eventually arrived in Dillon, but the options there were few. Butte followed, but even that had limitations.
“We had been in contact with someone here in Missoula. She was one of the people that did HUD-VASH,” said Kimberly. “We contacted her. We went to the VA clinic here and gave all the information. She took all our information and got us into Veterans of America.”
The HUD-VASH program is an initiative between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Among other things, the program provides vouchers for rental assistance, case management and clinical support, along with life skills and other needs.
The vouchers have been valuable as the City of Missoula works with Volunteers of America, the VA and the Missoula Housing Authority to place as many homeless veterans as possible into permanent housing. But the vouchers are limited and local support still plays a valuable role in ending veteran homelessness.
“We're connecting people to a resource. But it also requires us to think more creatively and critically on who we elevate for a resource, and how we get people into housing” said Dylan Barbash, the city's Built for Zero specialist. “We need private landlords and property management companies that are willing to work with houseless veterans. We also need donations to the Veteran Housing Fund.”
The partnership among organizations has helped the city place dozens of veterans into housing. And while William and Kimberly rely on their cats for comfort and still seek mental health support – sometimes over the VA crisis line – having a house to call home has helped them find balance.
“It was nice. It meant no more traveling, hopefully,” William said of moving in. As for what's next, he said “Just not move for a while. Just be. Maybe get out and take a look at the town. The only thing I've seen mainly is when I go to VA. I don't get out much.”
More reading:
Long road leads homeless Missoula veteran back into housing
Advocates ramp up march to end veteran homelessness in Missoula