The Missoula area’s housing market continued to level out last year with a slight decrease in the median home price, but lower-priced homes remain elusive, according to the Missoula Organization of Realtors’ annual report.

In 2025, the median sale price of a Missoula-area home decreased 2.2% to $550,000, according to the 2026 Five Valleys Housing Report. That includes sales of single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and manufactured homes on owned lots. The median sale price in Montana was $460,700 as of Dec. 31, 2025, according to Zillow. 

The number of sales, 1,029, increased 4.6% from 2024, which was the first year of an increase since 2020, said Mandy Snook, broker and owner of Montana Home and Land Company, during the panel presentation at the Missoula Public Library Wednesday. 

“We’re seeing a supply in a more normal range than we’ve seen in a long time,” she said. “Affordability looks a little better this year with a combination of lowering interest rates and, in some cases, lower property taxes. This gives buyers more choices and opportunities to secure housing. We continue to have a lack of usable inventory in the lowest price bands in our area. This leaves many people unable to afford a market-rate home.”

After “bottoming out” in 2020 and 2021, the Missoula area’s housing supply has increased and is within the healthy range of three to nine months, said Brint Wahlberg, a Realtor with Windermere Real Estate. However, supply varies based on housing type, price and neighborhood, with more townhomes and condos available than single-family homes, he said. 

The Missoula area, including parts of the county, had about a 5-month supply at the end of 2025, Wahlberg said. Missoula is nearing an undersupply of homes at or below the median price, while there is a significant oversupply of homes listed for $1 million or more, Wahlberg said. Right now, 22% of active listings in Missoula are in that $1 million-plus range, he said. 

“We see this market where we’ve got heavy, tight activity at, around or below our medium price point, good balance a little bit above it and then once you really start to climb, you start to totally flip the script here,” Wahlberg said. 

The city and county approved fewer subdivisions in 2025 than in 2024, said Paul Forsting, a planner with civil engineer firm IMEG. The city issued 587 building permits in 2025, down slightly from 599 in 2024, according to the report. Missoula County issued 12% more building permits in 2025, bringing the total to 337. 

The numbers fall short of the 1,100 to 1,500 new housing units needed annually for the next 10 years to meet existing and new demand as identified in the Our Missoula 2045 Land Use Plan. 

Missoula County’s housing affordability index score has improved, but still falls short of balanced cost and income, said Matt Gehr, a mortgage loan officer with PrimeLending. A score of 100 indicates that income and cost are aligned, while a lower score indicates that cost is higher. Missoula’s 2025 index score of 65 has improved from the low around 50 in 2022 due to an increase in median income, a decrease in median housing price and decreased and stable interest rates, Gehr said. The decrease in property taxes for most single-family primary residences in Missoula has also contributed to lower monthly mortgage payments, he said. 

“We’re trending in the right direction,” Gehr said. “We’re not there yet, but we’re seeing, like I said, gradual improvement, steady improvement, greater stability and predictability.”

Households that receive federal housing choice vouchers are finding a place to live more quickly, said Julie Pavlish, operations and program director at Homeword, which provides homebuyer education and other services. The Missoula Housing Authority also recorded an increase in the number of households served through the program, she said.  

“Shorter time to find a lease and an increased number of families being helped means a shorter time on the waitlist,” Pavlish said. “So that is a really positive change from the last few years that we’ve been able to see.” 

Community land trust homes also provide a homeownership opportunity for people with lower incomes, Pavlish said. Last year, Front Step Community Land Trust sold three homes with a median price of $257,028. In April, 27 new community land trust homes will be available as part of the Scott Street-Ravara housing development, including 21 income-qualified condos. 

“The interest in these homes is going to far outstrip the available number each year, but we look forward to this meaningful addition in 2026,” Pavlish said. 

Last year, Missoula’s rental market saw increased rents for most unit types and a low overall vacancy rate by historical standards, said Josh Plum with Plum Property Management. 

Two-bedroom apartments saw the largest increase in average rent, up 11.4% from $1,491 to $1,661, Plum said. Rents for one-bedroom apartments increased 5.4%. Rents for three-bedroom, single-family homes stabilized, he said. 

Landlords are seeing more “price sensitivity,” with higher-end one and two-bedroom apartments in the $1,800 to $2,500 per month range leasing more slowly, he said. Units with rents under $1,500 have a low vacancy rate and are leased very quickly, Plum said. 

“The larger amenity packages do not appear to outweigh pricing decisions, and tenants are often choosing the lower nominal rent even when higher rents include utilities and amenities and some additional creature comforts,” he said. 

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When Maria Cassidy received a notice that her monthly rent was increasing by $200 after a Texas-based company bought Harvey’s mobile home park in Bonner, her heart sank.  

“I felt trapped,” she told Montana Free Press. 

Cassidy, who has lived at Harvey’s since 1990, said under the park’s previous owner, annual rent increases for the lot to park her mobile home ranged from $5 to $25. Before Oak Wood Properties purchased the park in 2023 and raised lot rents in 2024, the $420 per month was already difficult for many residents on fixed incomes to afford, she said. The nearly 50% increase was devastating, Cassidy said. 

“It especially impacted our elderly neighbors and those still making payments on their homes,” she said. “It was rather ironic to see the word ‘affordable’ added to the park entrance signage.” 

Cassidy’s predicament is not unique as mobile home parks in Montana have been increasingly purchased by out-of-state investors eager to raise lot rents and recoup their costs. Now, the residents of two Missoula parks have joined forces to push back and keep their housing affordable.

In 2025, after Oak Wood notified tenants of an additional $150 increase at Harvey’s and Travois Village, another Missoula mobile home park it purchased in 2023, residents there began organizing with the Missoula Tenants Union. After pushback, the company lowered the increase for both parks to $50, bringing the lot rent at Harvey’s to $670, according to the tenants’ union. 

To help her neighbors stay in their homes, Cassidy joined the Harvey’s Tenants Union last fall, which organized with the Missoula Tenants Union and union members from Travois Village. The unions are pushing for a new lease with lower rents and other protections for residents.

“Nobody deserves to be exploited by an out-of-state company that is only concerned with profit and with filling the pockets of investors,” Cassidy said during the Harvey’s Tenant Union launch event last Friday.

Dozens of union members and supporters gathered last week to celebrate the Bonner park’s supermajority tenant union. A supermajority union represents more than 65% of occupied units. The Harvey’s Tenants Union represents about 67%, or 26 of the 39 homes. 

Members of the Harvey’s and Travois Village unions have also formed a joint bargaining team and are meeting with Oak Wood representatives to demand changes to their leases. During their first meeting in January, the company agreed to strike a clause from the lease that would give it the first right to purchase tenants’ homes if they decide to sell, said Erik Brilz, a bargaining team member and Travois Village resident. The company also agreed to keep meeting with tenants and visit Missoula in April, Brilz told the crowd.  

“At no point in the history of Missoula have tenants generated such meaningful power and actually won concessions from their landlord in this way,” he said. “These results prove this process is working.” 

Oak Wood did not respond to MTFP’s requests for comment. 

The two mobile home parks purchased by Oak Wood are among a growing number across Montana owned by out-of-state companies. In January 2025, Texas-based Axia Realty Partners purchased Katoonah Lodges Mobile Home Park in Missoula, a 55-plus community located off Mullan Road. Residents of Helena’s Golden Estates Mobile Home Park recently raised concerns about rent increases after a Tennessee-based owner bought the property. 

Brilz said while Oak Wood’s initial response to the union is promising, there’s more work to be done. The bargaining team presented a list of top priority demands to Oak Wood, including that the company walk back recent lot rent increases and cap annual increases at no more than 3% tied to a cost-of-living adjustment.

Shawn Belobraidic, a Harvey’s resident and bargaining team member, said mobile home parks are promoted to out-of-state investors as profitable because they can pass costs onto vulnerable residents who typically don’t push back. Belobraidic said the union knows Oak Wood can afford their demands, while the rent increases have “broken the bank” for many residents. 

“We are going to demand a fair lease that treats us with the dignity and respect that we deserve,” he said. “We are not vulnerable, we are informed. We are not going to be taken advantage of. We are organized. We are not going to back down.” 

Harvey’s resident Jacquie Thompson asked the crowd to support the union’s mission. Thompson said she moved to the Bonner park after retiring in 2019 because it was small, quiet and the $335 lot rent was affordable. Now, with rent and fees more than double that amount and her monthly fixed income at roughly $1,000, that’s no longer the case, she said. 

“If rent increases again next year the way it has the past two years, I will no longer be able to stay in my home,” Thompson said. “I will be homeless. … And I’m not alone. Most of the residents at Harvey’s are seniors or people on fixed incomes. We simply cannot absorb these kinds of increases.”

The unions are also pushing for clauses in their leases that require Oak Wood to notify them if it plans to sell the parks and to grant tenants a first right of refusal, giving them the first shot at buying the parks, Cassidy said. The supermajority of Harvey’s residents favor purchasing the property and forming a cooperative to do so, she said. 

Montana has 22 resident-owned communities (ROCs), including five in Missoula County. The communities are cooperatively owned and democratically run by residents, and the rent goes only to bills and community upkeep, according to ROC USA.

Cassidy, the longtime Harvey’s resident, told MTFP she had contacted NeighborWorks Montana, an organization that helps residents form cooperatives. Adam Poeschl, a ROC acquisition specialist, previously told MTFP that the first step is a willing seller. Cassidy said she hopes the union can convince Oak Wood to sell to the residents. 

“It is the only viable option to stay in our homes, to allow us to continue living here, to keep our neighborhood intact, to provide us the opportunity to make our own choices, to have affordable lot rents, to experience rent security and stability and empower us to live in dignity,” Cassidy said. 

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The Missoula City Council Monday approved a new zoning code, map and development requirements, all aimed at increasing housing throughout the city. 

The code implements the city’s new land use plan, which emphasizes expanding housing opportunities, improving walkability and addressing climate goals. The new rules encourage a wider range of housing types across Missoula’s neighborhoods, marking a significant change for some areas that have been largely insulated from development in recent years. 

“I just hope the community supports this and does not balk at change,” Council Member Gwen Jones said during the meeting. “If we can embrace this change, it will work to keep Missoula vibrant, inclusive, community-oriented, and maybe it’s a place where our grandkids can live.”

The council approved the unified development code at the end of a five-and-a-half-hour meeting, following public comment and consideration of four amendments. 

The unified development code encompasses zoning, subdivision, public works and parks-related regulations that were previously separated in different documents and sometimes conflicted with each other, according to the city. The updated Standards and Specifications Manual includes administrative rules, design standards and details, and clarifies how projects can meet code requirements.

Since mid-November, the planning commission and city council have spent about 75 hours in public meetings reviewing the code, said Council Member Mike Nugent. The council, over the last three weeks, debated more than 50 amendments to the code and zoning map approved by the planning commission in December and proposed by staff and council members. 

“There’s no such thing as a perfect public process,” Nugent said. “Amendments come from elected officials at the end, that’s just the way things go, but it certainly doesn’t dismiss anything that led to that point in the conversation.” 

The code reform began more than three years ago, when the city began collecting public feedback on its new land-use plan. The city’s review of the code found barriers to housing equity, supply, diversity, affordability and infill development, and that it did not support transportation and climate policies and was difficult to navigate. 

The plan and the code include feedback from residents as well as developers, architects and other frequent users of the code. 

The code update followed the December 2024 adoption of the Our Missoula 2045 Land Use Plan, which will guide the city’s growth and development over the next 20 years. The plan emphasized expanding housing opportunities to accommodate the projected population growth of the city and some surrounding county land, which is expected to reach 37,000 people by 2045. The plan called for 1,100 to 1,500 new housing units annually for the next 10 years to address the current deficit and meet new demand. 

The new zoning map would allow apartments in 89% of residential and mixed-use districts, with only rural districts restricted to single-family homes or duplexes, city staff said previously. That’s a significant change from the current zoning, which allows only single-family homes or duplexes in 64% of the city’s residential areas. 

The new land use plan and code also incorporates requirements from the 2023 Montana Land Use and Planning Act, including allowing at least two units per parcel in all residential areas. It also outlines changes to public participation and moves more development projects, like subdivisions, to administrative review. 

The new code has 22 zoning districts, including seven residential, seven mixed-use, and eight special-use districts. The former code included 38 zoning districts, 21 overlays and 95 planned-unit development districts. The new code removes all overlays except the airport hazard area and four historic district overlays, including at Fort Missoula. 

The residential districts are categorized into rural, limited-urban and urban, with more housing units permitted in the limited-urban and urban districts. The rural district is the only residential area that doesn’t allow at least a triplex. 

The code regulates building size through a calculation based on parcel size. The council in January removed the unit cap for apartment buildings in urban residential districts and adjusted the calculation to allow for larger buildings in those districts. 

All residential areas allow small-scale neighborhood commercial development, like a corner store or coffee shop. These businesses are allowed in new and existing buildings on corners and mid-block. 

Mixed-use districts include limited-urban, urban and downtown, where all building types are allowed with no density restrictions.

Special-use districts are transitional, industrial, open space and civic, and allow for a variety of uses. The transitional district was created to provide flexibility to encourage residential, commercial and low-intensity industrial development in areas with industrial lots and block patterns transitioning to mixed-use, according to the code. A handful of areas will have this zoning, including parts of the River Road neighborhood near Russell Street, east of Ryman between the railroad tracks and Interstate 90, and some areas around West Broadway north of Mullan Road. 

The council in January removed parking requirements for commercial and industrial districts. The new state law already limited parking requirements for certain housing, leading the city to eliminate parking minimums for all residential uses. 

Council Member Bob Campbell, who proposed the change, said Monday that landowners and developers know what’s best for their business and should be left to decide how much parking they need. 

The council last month also approved several amendments that adjust requirements for lot sizes, setbacks, entrances, building widths, building transparency, signs, landscaping, activity areas and infrastructure. 

The council also approved a handful of zoning map amendments to “smooth” areas where the same block had multiple zoning districts or to better match surrounding zoning. 

After a lengthy discussion Monday, the council changed the zoning for a proposed subdivision in East Missoula, somewhat undoing the downzoning it approved for the property last Wednesday. The changes follow comments from East Missoula residents concerned that the area lacks infrastructure to support the Aspire Subdivision and higher-density development. 

In August 2024, the council annexed the 35-acre property, rezoned it to include a neighborhood character overlay and approved the preliminary plan for the 250-unit subdivision, located adjacent to the Clark Fork River and Interstate 90. The project has been on hold as a lawsuit over the city’s approval plays out. 

The council Jan. 28, approved Council Member Sean McCoy’s proposal to change the zoning district for the property to a lower density residential district. In a split vote Monday, the council approved a staff proposal to revert to a higher density district because the zone would not have allowed the developer to build the subdivision as planned. Brian Throckmorton, with 406 Engineering, said the developer wants to build what the council previously approved and doesn’t plan to add more units. 

Many public comments Monday focused on East Missoula and sign regulations that concerned billboard owners. A handful of residents encouraged the city council to approve the new zoning code. 

“This zoning code represents a big step from point A to point B,” said Colin Lane with MMW Architects. “Point B, I think our community is largely in alignment on what that looks like. It’s more walkable, it has parks, it has trees, it has housing, housing that people can actually afford, and it has some density, some urbanness to it in the core. …  We may not always agree on how to get from point A to point B, but we do agree generally on what point B looks like.” 

The council unanimously approved the zoning code and amendments to the land use plan. The code will go into effect in 30 days, but development review applications submitted within 120 days of the effective date can choose whether to be reviewed under the new or old code. 

The mayor and council members applauded the city staff’s work on the effort and said they look forward to addressing any necessary changes, including the sign regulations flagged by business owners, and other specific issues as part of the next phase of code reform. 

“Missoula is choosing to meet the urgency of housing affordability and attainability with this follow-through with the unified development code, and we did it with you all,” said Mayor Andrea Davis. “This is not a one-and-done, and this isn’t going to solve every issue. … But we will keep our commitment to keep listening and keep learning, to keep measuring outcomes, reporting that out and keep improving this code so it delivers for Missoulians.”  

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Even in her 80s, longtime Missoulian Ethel MacDonald traveled worldwide on solo bike tours. She once told her son John that she loved her trips, but “I’ll always come home to Missoula.” 

A philanthropist and supporter of many social justice causes, MacDonald was passionate about making sure others in her community had what they needed, including an affordable home. 

Before MacDonald died last October, she sold her Westside rental property at below market rate to Front Step Community Land Trust, with the proceeds going to her Ethel MacDonald Charitable Foundation. The home will remain permanently affordable as part of the community land trust, which will maintain ownership of the land to bring down the price and require future homeowners to sell at an affordable rate.

In August, she told Front Step in a recorded interview that she made the sale “for the same reason that I would want to feed a hungry family on the street. For the same reason I would want them to be safe, and to have enough clothing, to be safely warm in our cold winters. That’s the way I am. I have everything, and too many people have almost nothing.” 

John MacDonald is also working with Front Step to sell his mom’s University District home to the community land trust, and he and the organization hope others will consider doing the same to increase affordable housing options in Missoula. 

“It’s a novel approach to one family at a time addressing housing needs,” MacDonald told Montana Free Press. “I think it’s how she would do it.”

Ethel MacDonald moved to Missoula around 1958 and spent most of her career teaching high school English and French in Arlee before retiring in the 1990s. She bought her house in the University District in 1980 after she and her husband divorced. 

John MacDonald said his mom was active with the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center and supported several causes in Missoula, including conservation, food security and affordable housing. 

About seven years ago, a friend in the real estate industry connected Ethel MacDonald with a single father at risk of losing his home. MacDonald bought his mortgage and rented the house back to him at a below-market rate. When the tenant moved, he encouraged MacDonald to continue renting the house at an affordable price, John MacDonald said. 

After covering taxes and other costs, Ethel MacDonald directed the rental income to her charitable foundation, which she started in 2018. MacDonald was frugal, a good investor and often donated her annual IRA disbursement to the foundation, her son said. In 2024, the Ethel MacDonald Charitable Foundation donated about $23,000 to dozens of nonprofits. Upon her death, nearly $1 million went to charities through direct donations and her foundation, John MacDonald said. 

“She just lived a very simple life,” he said. “She always said, ‘I have enough, and I have everything I need, and I should give to others not as lucky as me.’” 

Last year, Ethel MacDonald approached her foundation board about the future of the rental house. Karissa Trujillo, a board member and executive director of housing nonprofit Homeword, said that when they discussed whether to keep the house as a rental or to sell it, she suggested the community land trust. MacDonald met with Front Step in April and sold the home to the organization in August. 

“She felt really good about the legacy she was leaving there and being able to bring some funding into the foundation but also still sell it at a rate that worked for Front Step to take the home into their portfolio and sell to someone who could afford to live there,” Trujillo said.

Community land trusts aim to provide affordable housing on land they own and lease to homeowners. Removing the land’s value lowers the home’s price, and the homeowner agrees to sell the home at a restricted price to keep it affordable. 

Hannah Kosel, Front Step’s stewardship program manager, said that since MacDonald was willing to sell her property at below-market value, the organization didn’t need grant funding to help acquire the home, as they have in most other cases. Kosel said MacDonald was quick to get on board with the opportunity to keep the home affordable. 

“For her to say, ‘I have the resources I need. I recognize I have some extra as well and that can go to others,’ I just thought that was a really beautiful gift of generosity and wealth redistribution in that regard,” Kosel said. 

Front Step is making some upgrades to the home before seeking applications from potential buyers, Kosel said. Front Step will select an income-qualified buyer earning up to 120% of Missoula’s area median income, currently $94,560 for a two-person household or $118,200 for a four-person household. The home will have a 75-year ground lease that includes an agreement to sell to the next buyer at an affordable price. The homeowner still receives equity, but the arrangement allows households currently priced out of today’s market to buy a house, Kosel said. Unlike other affordable housing models, no additional funding is needed to subsidize each new homeowner, they said. 

“Ethel’s one-time generous donation will be able to stay with this home on a long-term scale, which is a really beautiful way to keep her legacy alive,” Kosel said. 

Front Step, which has grown to include more than 90 permanently affordable homes in Missoula, will likely see more individual home acquisitions in the future, Kosel said. 

John MacDonald said he decided to sell his mother’s University District home to Front Step after seeing many neighboring houses replaced with those unaffordable to anyone he knows. MacDonald said he owns a home in Helena and “a cabin in the woods” and doesn’t need to sell his mother’s home at full market price. 

“If I can do something to contribute, it would be great to help out,” he said. 

MacDonald said he hopes other people in his position will consider selling their parents’ homes to the community land trust to help those in need. 

“It’s a unique approach, but I think it would work,” he said, “I think people could see the benefit to the community and themselves.” 

Kosel said it would be exciting to also bring MacDonald’s home into the community land trust because it would be the first Front Step home in the University District. 

“We believe affordable housing should be in every corner of Missoula and every neighborhood,” they said. “This type of process makes it exciting to understand how to scale this program, how to bring affordability into different areas of Missoula.” 

Trujillo, with Homeword and the Ethel MacDonald Charitable Foundation, said for many Missoulians, buying a home is not an option without the community land trust. 

“It’s easy to get bogged down in, ‘I’m only one person, what can I do?’” she said. “But if 50 people took action in the way Ethel did. This one human made such a difference in not only her foundation and giving to nonprofits but in her gift of a home. If 50 more people did that, imagine the impact.” 

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Missoula’s proposed zoning code is set to include new restrictions on where marijuana dispensaries can be located, following concerns about increased youth drug use and the high density of dispensaries in the city. 

Because existing dispensaries won’t be affected by the proposal and because a state moratorium has put new businesses on hold, city staff cautioned that the zoning change won’t show immediate results. 

Still, the Missoula City Council Wednesday approved an amendment to the proposed code requiring dispensaries to be 1,000 feet from each other, schools, churches, youth-serving facilities, parks and recreation facilities and substance use treatment centers. Cassie Tripard, a planning supervisor with the city, said 1,000 feet is equal to about two downtown city blocks. The council also approved a new rule requiring dispensaries to be 250 feet from the nearest residentially zoned parcel. 

The city’s code currently requires dispensaries to be 500 feet from each other, schools, child care facilities and churches. Dispensaries are allowed in business, commercial and industrial districts. The updated code would allow dispensaries in mixed-use and industrial zones and prohibit them in residential zones, Tripard said. While the update does not change the types of zones dispensaries are allowed in, it does expand the areas considered mixed-use, she said. 

Council Member Gwen Jones said Wednesday she proposed the new buffers because of the slow-moving attrition of dispensaries and concerns about increased youth marijuana use. 

In July 2024, Missoula Public Health officials told the council that youth in Missoula County used marijuana at a higher rate than state and national averages and perceived the drug as less risky. 

Leah Fitch-Brody, a substance use disorder prevention coordinator with the department, said during the meeting July 8 that Missoula’s high concentration of dispensaries is concerning because studies have found that youth who live near dispensaries tend to use more marijuana. 

At one time, the city had close to 60 dispensaries, Jones said Wednesday. While that number is now around 50, attrition has been a “slow game,” she said. 

“Absolutely these businesses can be here, but where they are is pretty crucial, and we can start drawing some lines,” Jones said. 

After recreational marijuana was approved by voters in 2020, there was concern about the over-concentration of dispensaries in Missoula, especially in certain areas of town, Tripard told Montana Free Press last month. 

“That’s really where the idea to just kind of space them out came from rather than other cities that had tried a hard cap on license numbers,” she said. “It was our opinion that we didn’t have good market data or really any market data to justify a cap.” 

State law requires dispensaries to be located 500 feet from schools, child care facilities, and churches on the same street, measured from the center of the nearest entrance. 

In November 2021, the Missoula City Council passed an ordinance requiring 500 feet between dispensaries, measured from parcel line to parcel line. 

“Of course, most businesses got in before that regulation, so you haven’t seen that spacing really occur,” Tripard said. “That will happen over time.” 

In January 2022, many existing medical marijuana dispensaries expanded to include recreational sales. They were grandfathered in, meaning they did not have to follow the new buffer rules, Tripard said. 

While the city does not have an updated map of dispensaries and current buffers, several downtown and along West Broadway are likely not meeting the requirements. 

Following the public health presentation in July 2024, the council set a two-year moratorium on business licenses for recreational dispensaries, including new locations for existing businesses. Jones said at the time the city was looking to “hit pause” and make changes during code reform. That restriction sunsets in August 2026.

A statewide moratorium on new marijuana licenses is in place until June 30, 2027. Outlined in Senate Bill 27, the moratorium allows existing businesses to move but does not allow additional locations.   

Pepper Petersen, president and CEO of the Montana Cannabis Guild, told lawmakers in January 2025 that “business moved faster than regulation,” and the moratorium is necessary to allow counties and cities time to implement zoning restrictions or other policies.  

Current dispensary regulations vary among Montana’s largest cities. 

Billings does not allow recreational marijuana dispensaries in the city limits and caps medical marijuana dispensaries at eight. Bozeman’s newly approved unified development code generally adheres to the state’s 500-foot rule from schools, daycares and churches. Great Falls limits dispensaries to industrial zones. In Helena, along with the 500-foot buffer from schools and churches, dispensaries are required to be 500 feet from any city public building, facility or park. 

On Wednesday, several Missoula City Council members spoke in favor of increased buffers to eventually reduce the number of dispensaries.  

“I do think that people who want to get it legally, there are plenty of places in town to do that and enough for the market to be competitive,” said Council Member Amber Sherrill. “This is just something that we’ve been watching because there weren’t sideboards put on it, trying to figure out how we can do it, and this is a good opportunity.” 

The council is set to continue discussing proposed changes to the new zoning code and vote to adopt it Monday.  

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When teenagers make mistakes and break rules or the law, they often get suspended from school or end up in the juvenile justice system. 

But both scenarios can perpetuate the problem as students miss class, fall behind and lose connection with friends, said Amy Shattuck, assistant superintendent for Missoula high schools. 

For a different approach, Missoula County Public Schools this year partnered with the Kalispell-based nonprofit Center for Restorative Youth Justice, or CRYJ, to help hold students accountable while giving them a chance to learn from and repair the situation, rather than involving them in the juvenile justice system. 

“This process really makes them take responsibility for some of the actions that happen, but also to fix it,” Shattuck said. “And that can only be a positive as they move forward in their life.” 

CRYJ began as a youth peer court in 1998 and has since shifted its focus to work more closely with law enforcement to divert students from the juvenile justice system, said Catherine Gunderson, the organization’s executive director. Expanding to Missoula was a natural next step for the nonprofit, as school officials and other partners were interested and ready to take it on, she said. 

The school district partnered with Missoula County Youth Court, which is funding CRYJ’s Missoula program, to bring the organization to the four high schools this year. Gunderson said she’s looking forward to exploring ways to have an impact in Missoula. 

“We’re excited for them to have that opportunity for accountability but also to really be the best version of themselves as they learn new skills and are challenged to think about and talk about their role in the community in a different way,” she said.

CRYJ’s restorative justice model gives students an opportunity to repair harm they caused and reconnect with their community, while a punitive model often further separates them, said Kaya Juda-Nelson, a co-director of CRYJ’s Missoula program. 

“Sometimes we forget that teenagers don’t know everything,” she said. “Their brains are really still cooking, and they are really learning how to make decisions. I think that what CRYJ does is give them an opportunity to learn. A lot of times, we assume that because a person messed up, they intended to mess up, or it was a premeditated decision to do the wrong thing. And I don’t think that’s how it works.” 

Juda-Nelson and her co-director, Emma Schmelzer, began setting up the Missoula program in August. Along with University of Montana master’s student Tara Cook, the co-directors receive referrals and meet with students individually and in groups. The program can help with various issues, including drug or alcohol use, bullying, assault, theft and other conflict resolution. 

School administrators, school resource officers or Youth Court probation officers can refer students to the voluntary program. After a family conference and an individual meeting with the student, the CRYJ team will develop a program tailored to the student’s situation. 

For example, if a student is referred for marijuana possession, they would likely take an educational workshop and discuss the circumstances that led to their drug use individually and in peer groups, Juda-Nelson said.  

Depending on the situation, the program could include a victim-offender conference that brings together the student and any directly harmed parties. 

“The core of restorative justice is about relationship building between everybody involved,” Schmelzer said. “We spend a lot of time separating people after there’s been harm, but often the deepest healing and learning and moving forward can happen … when we can actually come together and talk about what happened and how to make things right.” 

Although the program takes a different approach than traditional discipline, it’s not letting kids off easy, Juda-Nelson said. 

“I think that asking a kid to sit down and actually talk about what happened and work through it and express that vulnerability and really have to have an honest conversation about what was going on for them and why they engaged in whatever behavior or incident they engaged in, I think that is often much more challenging, for a teenager especially,” she said.

In the Flathead, the program has helped reduce the number of teens entering the juvenile justice system, out-of-community placements and recidivism rates, said Gunderson, CRYJ’s executive director. 

Since 2017, when the program began receiving referrals directly, rather than students having to go to Youth Court first, the number of teens referred to Youth Court and the number of students receiving out-of-school suspension have decreased, according to data from CRYJ. 

In the 2024/25 school year, CRYJ served 118 youths at a cost of $430 per person, compared to approximately 40 youths from Flathead County who were eventually detained at a cost of $6,815 per person, according to the organization. About 10% to 12% of teens who complete CRYJ reoffend, compared to 13% to 18% in Flathead County and 20% to 25% statewide. 

Christine Kowalski, Missoula’s chief juvenile probation officer, said she’s hoping to see similar results as the program gets going in local schools. 

Most juvenile cases in Missoula and statewide are handled informally by a probation officer, meaning the youth doesn’t appear in court before a judge, Kowalski said. However, CRYJ offers more services right off the bat and a better approach than going through Youth Court, particularly for a first-time ticket, she said. That allows the students, many of whom have “skewed views” of law enforcement, to have a more positive experience, Kowalski said. Youth Court will continue to handle serious offenses, but ideally, CRYJ will help prevent students from making those decisions, she said. 

Kowalski said she would like to see the program be successful and “work us out of a job.” 

“That’s the bottom line,” she said. “The kids deserve to be successful, and a lot of times it’s not their fault that they’re in here. They’ve made poor choices because of circumstances that are out of their control, and we just need to help them get back on track.”

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As 2025 closes out, Montana Free Press reporters are reflecting on the work they’ve done over the course of the year — and what they expect to be writing about heading into 2026.

This year, much of my reporting as MTFP’s local Missoula reporter focused on housing and homelessness. 

I spent several months covering the phased closure of the Johnson Street homeless shelter and a related five-month sprint aimed at permanently housing as many shelter residents as possible. I also learned more about the connection between a person experiencing homelessness and the likelihood they will be involved in the criminal justice system. That came from a new report linking the two and from visiting the Watershed Navigation Center. While it’s open to anyone in need of housing or other resources, Watershed focuses on helping those reentering the community after time in jail or prison. 

Missoula’s shortage of affordable housing — and housing generally — was a key part of conversations around homelessness and debates on city land use planning efforts. Following the adoption of the Our Missoula 2045 Land Use Plan in December 2024, the city this fall released a draft of its new unified development code, which encompasses previously separated zoning, subdivision, public works and parks-related regulations. The UDC’s proposed zoning map allows apartments and other multifamily housing in more residential areas in an effort to accommodate Missoula’s projected population growth. 

The issue of housing was even a major theme as candidates jockeyed for city council seats in this fall’s municipal elections, with many of them discussing balancing the need for housing with concerns about development. 

I also wrote about ways people propose to add housing stock: in the Missoula This Week newsletter, I reported on several plans for housing and commercial developments, including two on city-owned property — the Riverfront Triangle and Midtown Commons. 

WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON IN 2026?

I’ll be keeping a close eye on how those debates continue to develop over the coming year.

In January, three new council members — Betsy Craske, Justin Ponton and Sean Patrick McCoy — will join the city council, with former council member Jennifer Savage also taking a new seat. Their first significant action will be considering amendments before finalizing the new development code next month. 

I’ll also be watching the progress of the developments announced in 2025, particularly whether efforts to build more housing will be slowed by construction costs or tariffs. 

Publicly subsidized affordable housing projects and programs in Missoula and statewide could see changes to their funding formulas next year under new federal policy. After announcing the changes to grant requirements in November, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Dec. 8 temporarily revoked the new policy to make revisions. It’s unclear what the new grant rules will be, but I’ll continue to monitor for updates on what it means for Montana. 

Changes to federal policy on homelessness and affordable housing will also likely remain a concern in 2026, as Missoula organizations continue to serve people previously staying in the shuttered Johnson Street shelter as well as families struggling to afford to live here. 

The post The year on the Missoula beat appeared first on Montana Free Press.

Monique Schulte, the director of the YWCA domestic violence shelter in Missoula, can recall only two instances in the last four years when every room in the shelter wasn’t taken. More people need its services, Schulte said, and the length of the average stay at the shelter has more than doubled in the last five years.

The shelter is one of many statewide that have seen more people staying longer as Montana’s housing market boomed following the COVID-19 pandemic, local and state nonprofit leaders told Montana Free Press.  

Barriers like poor credit or a sketchy rental history can make it more difficult for domestic violence survivors to find an affordable home, Schulte said. The nonprofit has limited resources to assist with housing, and the organization’s rental assistance program is at risk of losing funding next year due to changes to federal policy, according to the YWCA.

“People come to walk-ins thinking that we can get them housed and that we have deep pockets to pay for things that we just don’t have,” Schulte said. 

But help is available, and the organization encourages people in need to reach out, Schulte said. 

The only domestic violence shelter in Missoula County, the YWCA strives to help survivors find housing and connect to other resources in a short amount of time because of the constant need for beds, Schulte said. The shelter, which services all genders, limits survivors to a 60-day stay, although extensions are possible. 

The YWCA has operated a domestic violence shelter in Missoula since 1977 and moved into its new Meadowlark building on Third Street in 2021. The Pathways domestic violence shelter’s wing of the building nearly doubled its capacity from seven to 13 rooms, with six animal-friendly rooms. The Meadowlark also includes the 115-bed Family Housing Center shelter for homeless families with children. 

The Pathways shelter has 47 beds, with 12 additional beds in the overflow dorm. Single survivors often sleep two or three to a room, allowing mothers with children to have their own rooms. The shelter has seen an increase in the number of children served annually, from 34 in 2022 to 95 in 2025.  

Over the last two years, the YWCA has hired more youth advocates and expanded the hours advocates are available to watch children staying in the shelter, said Mia McKinney, the organization’s youth services manager. The YWCA is not a child care center, so parents can’t drop off their children and leave the building. Advocates provide respite care and can watch kids during parents’ counseling or other appointments, McKinney said. 

The youth advocates build relationships with parents and kids, offer parenting resources and hold regular activities for children at the shelter, McKinney said. Children come to the shelter in crisis, and the program aims to create consistency and a safe, healthy relationship with an adult outside the family, which helps build resilience to adverse childhood experiences, such as housing instability, she said. 

“Of course, we want to go above and beyond and do everything that we can to connect families with resources and get them stable housing and help them heal in many different ways,” McKinney said. “And I think that we’re working towards that just by being there for the kids and being that safe adult and building that resiliency.” 

The YWCA also operates a crisis line and a team of crisis response advocates and offers shelter residents case management and individual and group counseling. 

Those resources were invaluable to Emma Quick, a 24-year-old Missoula resident who stayed in the shelter three years ago. Quick told MTFP that when she came to the shelter in 2022, she had bad credit and a minimum-wage job that barely paid enough to get by. The YWCA provided help beyond a safe place to sleep, she said. 

“When I first came here, I was expecting just like a bed, and that was it,” Quick said. “But I had advocates that were always there to support me and people that I could talk to, and a therapist that was given to me for free therapy sessions. They gave us dinners and shampoo and conditioner and just truly a safe space. And I guess I didn’t know much of what to expect because I didn’t know that it existed, but I didn’t expect to feel at home.” 

Quick said advocates helped her find a cheap car and write letters to property management companies explaining her situation and detailing why she would be a good tenant. They connected Quick with Hope Rescue Mission, which paid for her apartment application fee, she said. 

Quick received an extension to stay at the shelter beyond the 60-day limit after struggling to find an apartment, she said. The letters from the advocates helped her find a property management company that would accept her without a credit check, Quick said. 

“I almost moved out of Missoula because I couldn’t find something in my price range,” she said. “I didn’t have good credit. Everything about it was a challenge.”

The average length of stay at the Pathways shelter has increased from 21 days in 2020 to 48 days in 2025, according to the organization. A lack of access to housing, limited child care options, low-paying jobs, limited legal resources, mental health needs and addiction contribute to the longer stays, said Becky Margolis, the YWCA’s communications manager. 

The YWCA works to connect survivors staying at the shelter with resources, but monetarily, it doesn’t have a lot to offer, Schulte said. 

“We don’t have money to pay for apartments,” she said. “We don’t have cell phones and can’t pay phone bills and give grocery cards. … But we offer a lot of support, and we do have a lot of resources in the community.” 

The YWCA tries to connect survivors with other organizations that can help cover those costs, but often that funding dries up, Schulte said. 

The level of services varies at domestic violence shelters statewide, and rural programs are often limited, said Kelsen Young, executive director of Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. 

While programs have always seen consistent usage, many are feeling the impact of Montana’s increasing population, Young said. An increase in the average length of stay is a typical trend in most places because of the difficulty in finding available and affordable housing after the state’s housing market blew up in 2020, she said. 

Not everyone who stays at a shelter needs economic support, but shelters have seen a growing number of people needing help with basics like housing and child care, Young said. Shelters do their best to provide services but have varying levels of programming, she said. 

“People in most of our state have access to emergency shelter, which generally has a time limit because it’s intended for people fleeing a situation and needing a safe place,” she said. “It’s not intended to be ongoing housing.” 

Some shelter programs operate transitional housing or rental assistance programs, while others just offer emergency shelter, Young said. 

In Missoula, case managers help individuals and families staying at the Meadowlark find housing, sometimes through the YWCA’s two housing programs. The YWCA operates a transitional housing program that subleases two apartments to households, allowing them to stay in the program for up to two years. At the end of the program, participants get a housing voucher through the Missoula Housing Authority for another unit, said Margolis, the YWCA’s communications manager. 

The organization also receives a federal grant for a rapid rehousing program that provides rental assistance and case management for up to two years. The participants receive vouchers for a rental within a certain range of fair market rent as set by the federal government. The voucher amount depends on each household’s income and monthly rent, and the household contribution increases throughout the program, Margolis said. About 75% of participants are successfully housed within six months, she said.

Over the last 12 years of the program, it has become increasingly difficult for survivors in Missoula to find housing, Margolis said. Even with rental assistance, participants struggle to secure a rental due to their poor credit, rental history and the lack of available rentals that meet the program’s criteria, she said. 

The program served 42 households from July 2024 through June 2025, and 28 households are currently in the program, Margolis said. The number of households served is largely determined by the amount of funding the organization receives from HUD to run the program, she said. 

The YWCA received a $413,565 federal grant this year to run the program through the end of August, but it’s unclear whether the organization will receive that funding for next year. 

“This funding is crucial to getting houseless families into homes,” Margolis said. “It provides rental assistance that helps get them back in the very competitive housing market, and gives them time to increase their income, connect with vital community supports and build a sustainable future for themselves and their children. Without it, most of those families would struggle to get back into housing.”

Survivors often have additional barriers that make breaking into Missoula’s competitive housing market challenging, Schulte said. 

“Sometimes survivors have no credit or really bad credit,” she said. “Oftentimes, abusive partners will destroy their credit, … so that when the survivor is ready to finally make their own way, they can’t even do that because that has been taken from them.” 

The YWCA has relationships with a few property management companies, and advocates will write letters of support on behalf of survivors. Even then, it can be challenging to explain some rental history, Schulte said. 

Quick said she worked with advocates to notify her property management company that her former partner may damage the property and to remove her from the lease if that happened. But her case is somewhat of an exception, Schulte said. 

“You got a great opportunity that you had a landlord that was willing to take that information, because the truth is there are plenty of people who are not,” she said. “If you don’t understand the dynamics of a domestic violence relationship and the power that is exhibited by an abusive person, you can’t imagine the challenges that go with that.” 

People often question why a survivor doesn’t leave an abusive situation, but there are many reasons, including children, pets and the difficulty of leaving their security and belongings, Schulte said. 

Quick said she didn’t think she deserved a bed at the shelter because her abusive relationship didn’t include physical violence. 

“A big barrier for leaving the situation that I was in was A: that I didn’t think I deserved to leave or to be safe,” she said. “And B: I think it was because there was such a power dynamic and control that I didn’t have anything. I didn’t have the car. I didn’t have money. I didn’t have a way to leave. … And coming here just was the sense of I could finally become independent again.” 

YWCA advocates help people not ready to leave create safety plans and distribute “shoe cards” that people can keep under the sole of their shoe with the 24-hour support line number and a QR code for the organization’s website, Schulte said. 

Schulte said there’s no “cookie-cutter” way to serve a survivor, and there aren’t enough resources in the community to meet all the needs. Schulte said she would like to see more landlords and others give survivors a chance. 

Quick said that the shelter made a big impact on her life and that others in an abusive situation should know that a fresh start is difficult but possible.  

“It’s important to know that abuse takes all forms, and that a lot of the times when you’re in it and it’s your everyday life, you think it’s not that bad, or I can get through this or everybody else out there has it worse, or I don’t deserve to take up resources or to get help,” she said. “Whatever you may be telling yourself, you do deserve help, and you do deserve safety and love and a fresh start, because nobody deserves to feel unsafe in their own home, no matter who you are.” 

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