MISSOULA, Mont. — More than 80 people attended Tuesday night’s Addressing Houselessness event put on by the Housing Advocate Network in Missoula.
The city recently announced the closure of the Johnson Street Shelter, beginning a new approach in how the city approaches homelessness.
The network’s Tuesday event aimed to educate Missoulians on what is going on locally and turn that into action.
“But beyond just education, we also are going to challenge each other and try to inspire each other that there is a role for us all,” Zeke Campfield, the Housing Advocate Network’s director, told the crowd.
Attendees could visit with organizations like the Poverello Center and Missoula Food Bank and Community Center before remarks from Campfield and Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis.
Davis took audience members through the recent decision to close the Johnson Street Shelter due to a lack of funding. She also reiterated the city’s desire to raise $400,000 to house the city’s homeless.
That effort is inspired by a grant-funded housing sprint this winter, when the city housed 12 veterans in two months. Missoula spent an average of $2,000 per person, Davis said, and dealt with common housing barriers like unpaid rents and utilities.
“It’s shocking the number of people that are working that have access to resources like Social Security, Social Security disability income,” the mayor said. “That if, given the opportunity, they can be successful in a home.”
The mayor encouraged attendees to donate, interested landlords to contact her office and residents to volunteer with the Housing Advocate Network.
One of those volunteers, Mandy Snook, attended Tuesday’s event with her family.
“There’s lots of kids in my kids’ school that are experiencing a housing crisis, and I wanted just to bring any skills that I had to help families in need,” Snook, a local real estate agent, said.
Snook, a volunteer for a year and a half, recalled running into someone she assisted with housing at a school concert, calling it a reminder of all those who may be unknowingly experiencing a housing crisis.
NBC Montana spoke with Campfield, who heads the network, two weeks ago. The network had roughly 80 volunteers at that time. That number remains roughly the same as of Tuesday night, with Campfield saying “this is a long process.”.
“We’ve been mounting a pretty serious campaign to ramp up those numbers,” he said. “We are looking for volunteers to help out with the efforts at the Johnson Street Shelter; we’re looking for volunteers to help out and support our refugee and immigrant community. We’re looking for volunteers to really just reinforce some of the work that we’ve already been doing.”
City staff will update Missoula City Council members on the closure of Johnson Street and the effort to house homeless individuals Wednesday morning in the Housing, Redevelopment and Community Programs Committee.