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Speakers urge Missoula to avoid shelter closures and stop $50-a-day fines for people living outside
Summary
Public commenters urged the council to preserve local shelters and stop issuing $50-per-day fines to people living outdoors, arguing fines worsen barriers to housing and criminalize survival. Speakers also called for clearer, plain-language agenda materials.
Multiple members of the public used the Aug. 4 Missoula City Council meeting to press the council on homelessness policy and enforcement practices.
Sage Bennett, identifying herself as speaking for herself, urged the council not to close local shelters such as the Johnson Street facility and warned that removing shelter options will leave hundreds to live outside in life-threatening weather. “We are funding police to go out and fine individuals $50 a day for trying to survive outside,” Bennett said, and asked councilors to reconsider fines that she said make it impossible for people to accumulate funds to secure housing or pay rental application fees.
Another commenter, Savannah Geary, echoed concerns about shelter closures and asked the city to publish clearer, plain-language summaries for dense agenda materials so ordinary residents can follow items in advance.
Comments on homelessness and fines were part of the public-comment period; the council did not take any immediate action on enforcement policy at the meeting. The mayor and several councilors acknowledged the comments and interactions from the public portion of the meeting while the budget and other agenda items proceeded.
Speakers also raised broader themes about community stress and the effect of local policies on vulnerable residents; no formal ordinance or enforcement change was proposed or voted on at the Aug. 4 meeting.
