MISSOULA – The Poverello Center is one of two shelters – the other being the Johnson Street Shelter – that homeless people in Missoula can turn to for help.
But these shelters have a history of business loss and nuisance for area residents – all because of their location next to the Poverello Center on West Broadway.
The Poverello Center has been in existence for 50 years and employs around 75 people. It provides meals, clothing and other basic needs, a place to sleep and job placement.
In addition to the center’s direct offerings, there is also an outreach team that travels throughout the city distributing similar resources to the homeless.
Those served by both the center itself and the outreach team do not always receive good help, or, according to people outside the Poverello Center with whom MTN spoke, no help at all.
“The HOT team isn’t doing much,” said Robin Trustee, who is sheltering outside the Poverello Center.
The trustee further explained to MTN that over the years the centre has stopped providing many resources, be it meals, clothing, water or cleaning the portable toilets outside the centre.
“They want us out of sight and out of mind.”
In addition to the obvious lack of care for those inside and outside the home, the trustee also alleged that Poverello Center staff were diverting donations – such as a check for $120,000 – and themselves abusing substances such as meth.
The trustee claimed he saw employees unload a truck full of donated items and take some things home. He also claimed he saw employees pick up meth paraphernalia that was later used by those same employees.
The trustee based these claims largely on the fact that many of the Poverello Center’s staff are younger – typically Generation Z – and believed that their age prevented them from effectively meeting the needs of the people they serve.
Jill Bonny, director of the Poverello Center, said many of these claims are understandable from an outsider’s perspective, but are largely untrue.
“No. A check for $120,000 doesn’t go missing. We get audited every year,” Bonny said.
Bonny also explained that donations – mainly clothing – are sometimes rejected due to storage reasons.
“If we had to give a number, I would say that 95% of (donations) reach the Poverello Center. Sometimes people donate things that we can’t use and then we donate them.”
Regarding allegations of staff substance use, Bonny expressed her hope that if someone observed a staff member using substances such as methamphetamine, they would report it to another staff member.
Bonny also explained that she understands why some people feel like they are not getting the care they are looking for, giving the example of a person asking for a comb.
“When we said we didn’t have combs, it was like a tragedy, it was a big deal – it was a crisis for them. And how much that’s not a big deal for me and how much that can impact the life of someone who has nothing.”
Bonny further explained that the inability to provide a particular item can lead to neglect and lack of care for certain individuals in a particular crisis.
Jill Bonny of the Poverello Center
“I know that the HOT team is making a difference in people’s lives every day.” “It’s a bit like drinking from a fire hose every day,” Bonny explained.
The problems facing the Poverello Center are largely due to changes in the drugs that patients are now abusing – coupled with the increasing need for elderly care and psychiatric care.
Jill Bonny of the Poverello Center
“I feel like we have become a nursing home, a mental health center,” Bonny explained.
The type of care the centre has to provide has changed over the years, with significant changes in housing and mental health services particularly occurring following funding cuts to homeless services in 2017.
“Ultimately, it’s up to us – we’re just not the experts in this field,” Bonny said.
The changes in the substances abused also present the center with new challenges.
In previous years, the drug abused by the center’s users was primarily meth. However, this has now changed, as meth has been replaced by fentanyl.
Bonny explained that the problem with this change is that people’s behavior becomes unpredictable. And because of this unpredictability, it becomes more difficult to build a relationship with a person, making contact initiation and de-escalation more difficult.
For businesses in the area, the impact of proximity to the Poverello Center is clear. Wisam Raheem, co-owner of Kamoon Arabian Cuisine, reports instances where people have smashed the windshield of his food truck and employees have had their bikes stolen three times.
In addition to the property damage and theft, Raheem explained that the general unrest surrounding the Poverello Center also had a direct impact on his business.
“Maybe it affected us indirectly before, but now there is a direct impact,” Raheem said.
Raheem told MTN that customers are more hesitant to enter his store because of the people around the center. This can happen when someone who is homeless or without housing comes in and uses the toilet or gets a glass of water and customers then turn around when they see them inside.
The same story applies to Brian Dinberger, president of Montana Glass, whose store is right next to the Poverello Center.
“I’ve gotten to know 9-1-1,” Dinberger told MTN. “90% of the customers talk about how bad this area is.”
Dinberger claimed that new customers simply stopped coming into the store and were doing business with him through another medium instead of coming in person.
He further explained that his employees have to pick up the garbage from the property every morning – but the city comes by every Tuesday morning to help with this operation.
Montana Glass, unlike Kamoon Arabian Cuisine, has not been affected by property damage, theft or vandalism, although disruptions to its business operations do occur in the form of loitering and behavioral problems.
Dinberger told MTN about a case in which a woman was standing in front of a truck that was being unloaded and was changing clothes.
Dinberger ordered the woman to leave, and after several tense moments, she left the room with her pants down.
However, such incidents no longer affect Dinberger, saying, “Sometimes I almost always become immune to them.”
In addition to disturbances such as the one mentioned above, Dinberger stated that there have been numerous cases in which he has witnessed drug deals on the street in front of his store.
Over the years, the number of people using the Poverello Center and living outside it has increased.
In Bonny, the increase began after the state cut funding for homeless services in 2017, and as time goes on, the number of homeless people only seems to be increasing.
Jill Bonny of the Poverello Center
Dinberger and Raheem also noted the increase, saying that the unrest and the number of people have increased significantly in the last two to three years.
Those in the vicinity of the Poverello Center are wondering what will happen next as the situation only seems to be getting worse.
Jill Bonny of the Poverello Center
“Most people’s comments are, ‘I expected it to get better, not worse.’ You know, people who had never dealt with homeless people expected them to be a little more needy and trying to get on their feet, but they realized they’re not really trying to get help. They’re just taking advantage of the system,” Dinberger noted.
The city is trying to combat the problem by passing Ordinance 12.60, which allows camping in certain parks from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. In addition, it imposed an emergency levy to fund the Johnson Street shelter for another year.
But these two measures leave some gaps, as enforcing the ordinance is difficult with the resources available to the city. Many of the homeless choose not to use the shelters for various reasons.
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