Missoula homeless numbers drop, concerns remain over pandemic effect
MISSOULA, Mont. — Preliminary numbers from the annual Point-in-Time study show Missoula’s homeless numbers went down this year. Now, experts wonder what the pandemic means for next year.
In Missoula’s district, which includes Missoula, Mineral and Ravalli counties, 354 people were marked as homeless. That’s down from the peak in 2015 at 538 but up from our low point in 2005 at 245.
The Housing and Urban Development survey is done across the country in the last couple of weeks in January. In Missoula, about 100 volunteers literally hit the streets, making contact and asking questions while using a real-time app that can be monitored by organizers. The group raises money to offer incentives, like gift cards, for being part of the survey.
This year’s data collection happened before the pandemic hit home. Now, organizers are preparing for what this fall could bring for the safety of our homeless population and also preparing for another possible increase in numbers.
“From what we’ve seen and heard from other communities across the country, everyone is anticipating an increase just due to the economic downturn,” said Missoula’s Reaching Home coordinator Theresa Williams. “But I also think it really demonstrates how fragile our economy is. In Missoula, especially, we have a number of people that are underemployed and that are always on the edge.”
Williams says they want to collect accurate data, not only to monitor our progress in ending homelessness but also because federal funding for programs relies on the numbers. She says Missoula is seeing a lot of progress in ending veterans homelessness.
Williams says homeless doesn’t always mean people living in encampments or unsheltered. She says about 20-25% of Missoula’s homeless population fits that bill. The rest is made up of families living in cars, people living in transitional housing, etc.
In the last two years, she says the No. 1 reason people reported becoming homeless was not being able to pay rent. The second was running from a domestic violence situation.
We are still waiting for more details about this year’s numbers, including data from other regions in the state. Those numbers are expected to be released in the coming month.
