Background on the Johnson Street Shelter

The City and the County have partnered with the Poverello Center for the last three winters to open and operate an additional shelter—Emergency Winter Shelter—for the coldest six months of the year, typically November through April. The Poverello Center operates the shelter out of the Johnson Street Community Center building, a City-owned property located at 1919 North Ave. W. The purpose of the additional shelter has been to keep those experiencing homelessness alive by providing 24/7 warming and sleeping space.

The shelter closed on April 10, 2023, and the community quickly saw a significant and rapid rise in urban camping. Missoula does not currently have enough shelter beds or homes that are affordable to meet the need within our community, resulting in people sleeping in places not meant for human habitation.

To remedy the current lack of shelter beds, the City of Missoula seeks to re-open the building previously used as a winter shelter to be an additional shelter operation for at least the next year. The Poverello Center will provide the shelter operations, and the City and County are jointly seeking funding to support operations.

The Johnson Street Shelter building is a warehouse-style space that can accommodate up to 165 people sleeping on floor pads. In addition to floor pads, the Poverello Center tries to provide blankets and basic needs supplies, as well as space to sit and gather, grab a sack lunch and connect with the Homeless Outreach Team and staff from other service providers who visit the site. The Poverello Center purchased a shower trailer three years ago that they use to offer showers to residents a few days a week. They try to provide hot meals when they can, but without a commercial kitchen on-site, their ability to provide hot food is limited by the capacity of the commercial kitchen at their shelter on Broadway Street and fluctuating ability to transport that food across town.

The shelter has relied on chemical toilets, because the building is not equipped with enough bathrooms for the number of guests using the shelter or the intensity of use by those guests. This past winter, the shelter had five chemical toilets, including one for ADA use. There are four bathrooms inside the “administrative” wing of the building, which are largely used by staff.

If you have thoughts or questions about the Johnson Street Shelter or homelessness in general, please route them to the City of Missoula’s Safe Shelter page on Engage Missoula.