The Poverello Center has won a $2.2 million grant to develop housing for homeless veterans at the old Clark Fork Inn, the homeless services provider announced in a press release.

The $2.2 million, awarded by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, Iowa, will go toward the development of the Housing Montana Heroes Clark Fork Inn Project — 16 transitional housing units at the corner of West Broadway and Scott Street, which previously offered month-to-month rentals for low income residents.

“This funding will help us provide safe, stable, and supportive solutions, ensuring that our veterans have the foundation they need to thrive and rebuild their lives,” Jill Bonny, the executive director of the Poverello Center, said in a statement.

The center has set a goal to functionally eliminate veteran homelessness in the city by Veterans Day 2026, she added. City officials estimated in October that there are about 74 homeless veterans in Missoula, out of 644 total households experiencing homelessness.

Veterans make up a disproportionately large slice of the homeless population in Montana and nationwide. Federal officials reported about 168 homeless veterans across Montana this year, though that number had actually declined from over 200 in 2023.

The Pov bought the Clark Fork Inn in 2021 with federal funds as part of its Housing Montana Heroes program. Although the initial plan was to rehabilitate the building, the new grant, on top of other funding the center has received, will pave the way for demolition and reconstruction of the site, which architects on the project have said is more cost effective.

The Housing Montana Heroes program currently places veterans at the Poverello Center’s main facility on Broadway. The shelter, though, is regularly at or near capacity, especially in cold months, as is the Johnson Street Shelter that the Poverello Center also operates. The Clark Fork Inn project will allow veterans to live in private rooms with kitchenettes, as opposed to the congregate or semi-congregate setting of the main shelter, and will free up space at the main site.

Demolition and construction on the site will begin early this year, and the new facility will open in 2026, the Poverello Center says.

“It was a business of love, loss, joy, frustration, smiles and tears,” Katherine Clark, the daughter of the property’s previous owners, Stan and Luanne Clark, wrote in a 2022 op-ed. “They took pride in their hard work to create an environment that showed their tenants their lives were worth investing in. I am glad that the nature of the Clark Fork Inn legacy will continue through the Poverello’s mission of housing veterans.”

Park camping ban takes effect

The arrival of the new year means that the ordinance banning camping in Missoula parks that the city council passed last month has taken effect.

State law says that ordinances passed by city governments can only take effect after 30 days. The council approved the new law — technically a series of amendments to an existing ordinance merely restricting camping in parks — late on Monday, Dec. 2, banning camping in all city parks and imposing a misdemeanor criminal penalty and up to a $50 fine on alleged violators.

City attorney Ryan Sudbury told The Pulp that he was not aware of any enforcements of the new law as of Friday morning, but that there may be a lag in the data until the cited individual makes their initial appearance in court. A spokesperson for the city police department did not return a request for comment.

The ledger #️⃣

4,235

Bill drafts requested, as of Friday afternoon, ahead of the Montana Legislature beginning its 2025 session next week. “It’s a phenomenally unworkable number,” House Minority Leader Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, told Pulp contributor Max Savage Levenson this week.

The week ahead 🗓️

Ready yourselves: The Montana Legislature kicks off its 2025 session on Monday, Jan. 6. Over the ensuing 90 days, the GOP-majority Legislature will craft a budget — and decide how to spend (or squirrel away) the state’s billion-dollar surplus — and consider laws related to everything from property taxes to education funding to abortion access. The second inauguration of re-elected Gov. Greg Gianforte kicks off at 10:30 a.m., while House and Senate members will take to the floor for a swearing-in ceremony at noon. The public can observe all meetings of the Legislature online here.

Find a list of all upcoming city meetings here and county meetings here.