Viewpoint: Family struggles to find housing in Missoula

Kristina King

I am writing in a last-ditch effort to find a solution for my family. My name is Kristina King and I have a family of 5 plus one dog.

On July 5 I was notified from my property manager that the rental we were in sold and we were given 30-day notice to vacate. We knew the property was on the market and have been actively looking for housing for months. I was extremely proactive in applying for all available programs including the new income-based housing with the Missoula Housing Authority.

This is also our second time in 4 years being kicked out of a home because an out-of-state owner sold and broke our contract. We have been appealing a denial from the Housing Authority for over a month. They are severely miss-communicating with my husband's employer and projecting that we make nearly $11,000 more annually than we have ever seen or even had the ability to make.

We are well within the limits for approval, but we are fighting the most dehumanizing battle trying to prove that their numbers are simply wrong. I have even gone as far as to submit them 5 years worth of any income paperwork including W-2s, paystubs, time sheets, direct lines to HR and management with absolutely no luck.

My husband is also a veteran so we have been exhausting all options within VA programming, and also being denied help with them because they are understaffed, and we aren't in dangerous enough of situation for them to accept our case.

I have looked endlessly for housing outside of these programs as well with no avail. We even considered buying, but the housing market is so out of reach the only thing we could find was in Deer Lodge and because we would need to utilize the VA home buyers' program, they explained that we wouldn't be able to qualify because the home we were looking at is 22 miles outside of their allowed distance range from his employer.

We work hard to provide for our family and have not done anything to land ourselves in this situation. The Missoula market is getting out of control with rentals and buying, and it's heartbreaking to know you qualify for the help available just to be told they don't believe you do even with all the evidence in the world.

My goal here is to find my family housing as soon as humanly possible, and also bring light to the issues myself and multiple others are facing with the income-based housing making it impossible for a qualifying family to be housed. It is so heartbreaking to explain to your small children that we don't have a home because those designated to help us and people in our position don't believe our income even with endless amounts of proof that we do qualify.

This email may get me nowhere, but I have to make sure I try every option available for my children. They do not deserve to be in this position at all. Especially when their providers did everything exactly as they were supposed to give them the life they deserve.