After multiple months of deliberation, the City of Missoula's Urban Camping Working Group meetings finally came to a close after five sessions.

MISSOULA, Mont. - After multiple months of deliberation, the City of Missoula's Urban Camping Working Group meetings finally came to a close after five sessions.

As the last meeting showed, there are no easy answers, and there is no easy path to reach agreement. Implementation of the recommendations will be even more difficult as details have to be worked out, partners engaged and funding sources identified and secured. We expect to receive the final documents from the Working Group in the next few weeks, and they will be used to guide the City’s decisions in this space in the future. The time frame to implement the recommendations will vary widely. For example, adopting an ordinance and improving hygiene may be able to be done in the coming months. But implementation of other recommendations could take much longer. Developing that implementation plan will be done once the recommendations are final. Additionally, much of the information and recommendations will help inform the Community Strategy to Address Houselessness that the City is convening concurrently with this process.

It is too early to speculate on or predict what might be funded in the budget.