Gallatin County passes ban on public camping

Jordan Hansen

(Daily Montanan) The Gallatin County Commission last week approved an ordinance banning camping on public property and within public rights-of-way.

Like other communities in Montana, Gallatin County and the Bozeman area have struggled with rising housing prices and homelessness during the last decade.

A 2023 report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found Montana experienced an 89% increase in homelessness from 2007 to 2023, the second-largest increase among states. Bozeman saw a 63.5% increase from 2019 to 2022, according to data from the Montana Coalition to Solve Homelessness.

The new Gallatin County ordinance puts a penalty of up to $500 and/or 10 days in jail for breaking the law.

“The intention here is to have the enforcement tool if needed and when needed,” Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer told the commission during a July 1 discussion on the ordinance.

The hope, commissioners said, is that citations are only given as a last resort.

“This doesn’t necessarily appear as the most compassionate approach, right? And I kind of struggled with that feeling as well, and yet I also feel the balance between connecting people to resources and protecting the health and safety of everyone in our community is really important,” Commissioner Jennifer Boyer said on July 15. “And you know this, this mechanism, although likely to be used very rarely, does allow a way to ensure sanitation and public health and safety.”

The commissioners expect to get data from law enforcement surrounding the issue, Boyer said. Officials called the move “proactive.”

Bozeman passed its own urban camping law late last year. Missoula, often a focal point when discussing homeless Montanans, has struggled with urban camping near the Clark Fork, leading to closures of public land and cleanups.

Adding to the issue, a shelter on Johnson Street in Missoula funded by American Rescue Plan Act dollars was recently closed.