City to begin phased closure of shelter, launch housing sprint
Martin Kidston
(Missoula Current) Saying the general fund can't absorb the annual $2 million cost of operating the Johnson Street shelter, the City of Missoula has begun a phased closure of the facility and will shift toward a new housing model in addressing homelessness.
The city's shift away from the congregant shelter system may also move the cost of addressing homelessness away from local taxpayers and more toward the nonprofit sector and its supporters.
Still, the city will partner with the nonprofit world in raising roughly $400,000 to conduct a “housing sprint,” which looks to place shelter occupants into permanent housing.
“The gradual phase-down is designed to work in tandem with the housing sprint,” said Emily Armstrong, the city's homeless programs specialist. “It's working to get folks to a positive solution. And as we are helping folks find solutions, we're also working to decrease capacity at the shelter.”
The new housing sprint is based in part on the success of a similar effort carried out earlier this year. That housing sprint was funded by a $30,000 grant from Community Solutions and successfully placed 12 homeless veterans into housing over a 60-day window.
“The reality of the housing sprint is that it's a short amount of time with a limited amount of resources,” said Armstrong. “We're working really hard with service providers to have collective conversations on how we can best utilize the resources we have available.”
The city on Wednesday placed the cost of the housing sprint at around $400,000. The United Way of Missoula County has raised around $15,000, and other contributions are pending, the city said.
Regardless of the fundraising success, the city will continue the phased closing of the Johnson Street shelter and work with service providers, along with area housing advocates, to place shelter occupants into housing.
“At the end of the day, we're going to need to close the shelter,” Armstrong said. "We'd rather do that knowing we slowly phased down over time and connected folks to solutions at the same time, rather than ending up with a significant number of folks who have to be moved out of the shelter the same day.”
Gearing up for closure and compliance
While the city gears up for the shelter's closing at the end of August, it's also planning to address issues regarding camping in city parks and public spaces and ensuring compliance with city ordinances.
City CAO Dale Bickell said that will include a dedicated compliance team. Currently, the city has issued 63 permits to those looking to live in a vehicle parked on designated streets. To date, he said, the program has received no complaints.
The city will also help on the fundraising front, Bickell said.
“We're confident we'll get to $400,000,” he said. “The city will be a participant in a number of ways on that. But it'll have to be other sources of funding that the city and some other institutional partners are going to have to do, on top of some other philanthropy.”
The city stood up the Johnson Street shelter during the pandemic as a means to provide emergency shelter. It initially operated during winter months only but was expanded to year-round operation as demand grew.
The city funded that operation using a number of federal grants issued during the pandemic, but the money has run out and the city is unable to cover the shelter's annual $2 million cost.
The shelter's year-round operation also angered area residents, who reported a rise in crime and vandalism. They also argued that the city purchased the property to help redevelop the blighted parcel, not to run it as a shelter.
Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis said the city's current operational contract expires at the end of August. The phased closure of the shelter will start in April.
She added that the housing sprint offers current shelter occupants time and options to find permanent housing with the aid of specialists dedicated to the task.
“Rather than concluding the contract, we've stood up a housing sprint as a thoughtful way to unwind the Johnson Street shelter,” Davis said. “We're working together to help folks secure permanent housing. The phased closure allows guests time to transition with community-wide support into the gradual reduction of capacity there.”
The shelter will eventually be razed and redeveloped under current city plans.