Sign up for the free Missoula This Week newsletter and stay in the loop on Missoula city government, public school meetings, business news and upcoming entertainment and events.
07/17/2026
“Missoula This Week” is reported and written By Katie Fairbanks. Send your Missoula news and tips to [email protected].
One of the goals of Missoula This Week is to help people be informed and connected to what’s happening around Missoula — from local government to community events and everything in between.
To help us improve this newsletter, we’d love to hear from you. We created a short survey about what you find useful, what topics you care most about and what you’d like to see more often.
Your feedback is appreciated and will directly shape future editions of Missoula This Week.
Income requirements, lack of pet-friendly rentals among the challenges
A recent survey of renters in Missoula identified unaffordable rents, income requirements and a lack of rentals that allow pets as some of the highest barriers to finding and maintaining rental housing in the community.
Jana Richter, Front Step Community Land Trust’s community engagement specialist, presented the results of the organization’s survey during a City Club Missoula panel Monday, focusing on the challenges and opportunities for renters. Missoula Tenants Union organizer Jackson Sapp and Brint Wahlberg, with the Missoula Organization of Realtors, discussed tenant organizing efforts and rental data from the Realtors’ annual housing report.
More than half of Missoula’s population, about 53%, are renters, and 47% are cost-burdened, meaning their monthly housing cost is more than 30% of their income, Wahlberg said. As rental costs increased in the last six years, wages have not kept up, he said.
Front Step’s survey focused on the Northside, Westside, Franklin to the Fort and River Road neighborhoods but received responses from 1,090 current and former renters citywide. The renters surveyed were younger, more diverse and lower-income than the city overall, according to the report.
About 70% of renters reported that their housing costs increased in the last year. And while 70% of renters surveyed were working full-time or more, two-thirds said that if they were forced to move in the next 30 days, they would likely experience a housing gap.
“Even among a full-time workforce of folks, they are facing huge barriers and instability, and it’s even more so for folks who don’t have the same sort of job security here in Missoula,” Richter said Monday. “This is especially important to know as we think about how many people are closer to becoming unhoused than to becoming housing stable in Missoula and the solutions that we think about.”
The survey also found that more than half of renters had difficulty finding their current home, and 77% spent a month or more searching. The most common barriers to finding rental housing among those surveyed included a lack of properties within budget, applications requiring three times the rent as income and a lack of available properties on the market. Richter told Montana Free Press that a lack of properties that allow pets was a barrier for renters and unhoused people seeking housing.
Richter said the housing conversion often focuses on building new housing, which is necessary but not the only solution needed to address the challenges renters face.
“We have to be yes, advocating for more missing middle and diverse housing and trying to incentivize affordability in our development process, … thinking about tenant protections and how to organize tenants toward housing cooperatives and also protecting them in their homes now from huge rent hikes and health concerns, and we have to be thinking about deeper investment in people who are right now on the streets of Missoula,” Richter said. “It’s not so simple as just trying to place people who are unhoused into our current housing stock.”
Richter said Front Step plans to present the survey results to various groups in Missoula, including the city council, and eventually to hold focus groups with local landlords and property management companies. The organization will also work with the Missoula Tenants Union on an educational campaign about renters’ rights and available resources, Richter said.
“We hear so much in Missoula about what we can’t do on a local level, and I think these survey results give us an opportunity to think creatively about the many solutions and incentives and options we have locally to lower housing costs and create pathways toward better living conditions for all people who rent in Missoula,” Richter said.
City staff recommend development, other fee increases
The Missoula City Council will consider several fee increases as part of the 2027 budget to address the costs of growth and inflation and to cover expenses.
City staff Wednesday recommended increases to impact fees, which are paid by developers to support new infrastructure costs, as well as other fees for parks and recreation, building, planning, fire prevention and business licenses.
While fees make up about 2% of the city’s budget, certain programs, like the building fund, are more reliant on fees, Eric Hallstrom, the city’s chief operations officer, told the council.
“[Fee revenue] supports and enables really meaningful work throughout the city,” Hallstrom said.
On Wednesday, Colin McAweeney with consulting firm TischlerBise reviewed for the council a recent update to the city’s impact fee study, which was last updated in 2018. State law requires that impact fees be collected proportionately to the costs of infrastructure improvements, and the fees are not based on a property’s value, McAweeney said. The fees can pay for certain water, sewer, stormwater, transportation and public safety projects, but the improvements must have a service life of 10 years or longer. For example, the fees could help pay for a new police station but cannot pay for new police cars, said Dale Bickell, the city’s chief administrative officer.
The study breaks down the total maximum fee the city could adopt for fire, police and transportation. The maximum total impact fee ranges from $3,087 for a 750-square-foot home to $14,598 for a home of 7,001 square feet or more. Currently, the maximum total impact fee ranges from $816 for a 750-square-foot home to $2,077 for a home of 4,001 square feet or more. The study also updates the transportation fee for the Sxʷtpqyen area, which is in addition to the citywide fees, to a range of $915 to $4,094, depending on square footage.
City staff recommended that the council adopt almost all impact fees well below the maximum rate and increase them annually through 2031 but recommended the maximum fee for the Sxʷtpqyen area. Under the recommendations, the fee for homes under 1,750 square feet outside of the Sxʷtpqyen area would initially decrease.
For non-impact fees, city staff is recommending a 3% increase to most parks and recreation fees, a 5% increase to public works fees, a 15% increase to land use and planning fees, a 23% increase to building fees, a 5% increase to business license fees and a 10% increase to fire prevention fees.
The full list of recommended fees is available online. The recommendations will be included in the mayor’s executive budget, which Mayor Andrea Davis is scheduled to present to the city council next Wednesday.
3 Questions For
The University of Montana’s new president, Jeremiah Shinn, started July 1. The Montana Board of Regents in April selected Shinn, 49, the former interim president of Boise State University, to replace Seth Bodnar, who vacated the position in February.
On Tuesday, his eighth day on the job, Shinn spoke to Montana Free Press about his initial plans and perspective he’s bringing to UM. Shinn said he’s still in “learning mode” but hopes to articulate plans for what’s next by the fall. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
University of Montana President Jeremiah Shinn poses for a photo outside of Main Hall on Tuesday, July 14, 2026. Credit: Katie Fairbanks/MTFP
MTFP: How do you plan to improve UM’s enrollment and graduation rates?
Shinn: When I think about enrollment, I first think about retention and graduation. If students come to this campus, I want them to see a pathway to stay here and to graduate from here and ultimately be successful. And so I think that in the coming months we will consider many ways to increase our retention rate. … As a first-generation college student myself who many times considered dropping out of college, I am so grateful for the people and the opportunities that gave me a pathway, and I wouldn’t be sitting here today without it. That’s something that’s near and dear to me, and we’re gonna do everything that we can to serve our students so whatever future that they imagine for themselves is possible here. We don’t want there to be structural barriers; we don’t want there to be organizational barriers to them achieving the things that they want to achieve.
MTFP: How do you plan to balance budget considerations with department concerns about where cuts are being made?
Shinn: First and foremost, we’re gonna serve our students and we’re going to serve our state. That might look differently now than it did 15 years ago, and so we’re going to adjust to that reality. We also want to be sure that we’re delivering an education at a cost that Montanans can afford, and we also want to deliver a high-quality education. We don’t want to sacrifice quality for cost, which means that we have to make difficult decisions. Where there are programs that students are telling us don’t have the same relevance for them as they might have, we’re going to have to take a close look at that. Now, I do believe there are opportunities for us to tell the story of what our various programs can do in this new AI world, in the economy that we’re building. I think there are some opportunities to reframe how we have thought about some disciplines in the past to make them more relevant for the future.
MTFP: What else is emerging as a top priority or something you want to take a closer look at?
Shinn: One of the things that I think we have an opportunity to do that I can see as someone with fresh eyes is I think that we can tell our story louder. There are so many amazing things about this university, so many places of strength and pride points, and I worry that not enough people know about it. …
For instance, there’s an incorrect assumption that if you want to study the sciences, you go somewhere else. This is a tremendous place to study sciences. We have a very high medical school placement rate. We have researchers that are studying things from the cosmos to subatomic particles. I mean, we are doing some really, really great work in the sciences, and our students are also doing a lot of amazing work. In fact, a student that wants to study science gets to come to the University of Montana and do research alongside their professors in a way that they might not get to do otherwise. That’s one of the ways that I think that we need to tell our story louder or differently because I don’t know that there’s an appreciation for the fact that this is a really great science university.
Photo Op
Courtesy of SEIU 775
Tasha Anderson, a caregiver for All Ways Caring HomeCare, speaks during a rally with fellow caregivers, union organizers and Sen. Ellie Boldman, D-Missoula, outside the Missoula Labor Temple Tuesday. The members of SEIU 775 called on the company, owned by Kentucky-based BrightSpring Health Services, to bargain in good faith and consider wage increases for its employees.
SEIU 775 represents about 230 caregivers with All Ways Caring across the state. After unionizing last year, the group has been bargaining for their first contract since November, said Anderson, a bargaining team member. The union has proposed wage increases and other requests that company representatives have not meaningfully discussed, she said.
“This stalling on real issues, all while the cost of living is continuing to increase, brings lots of hardships for me, my client, my fellow caregivers and their clients,” Anderson said. “We need these wage increases; this isn’t a game.”
Anderson, a caregiver in Superior, told Montana Free Press she hasn’t received a raise in the seven years she’s worked for All Ways Caring. The current wages are not enough to adequately cover the rising costs of housing, groceries and other bills and are the lowest among unionized home care agencies in Montana, she said. Caregivers are also asking for better communication about benefits, training and support, Anderson said.
“All Ways Caring values its dedicated employees who provide high-quality, compassionate care to Montana families, including, in many cases, their own loved ones,” an Always Caring spokesperson said in a statement to MTFP Wednesday. “Our labor negotiations are ongoing, and we have participated in several productive bargaining sessions, including today.”
5 Things to Know in Missoula
The Missoula City Council Monday approved a $2.2 million contract with JAG Contracting to build the new park on North Scott Street and for street and sidewalk improvements in the area. The 5.4-acre park on Scott and Rogers streets will replace White Pine Park and better serve the growing neighborhood, according to the city. The park will include a playground, multi-use field, dog park, shade pavilion, sports court, a water feature, walking paths, trees, pollinator habitat and a bathroom, said Lucy Rummler, a parks and recreation project manager. The improvements on the streets bordering the park will include new sidewalks and several crosswalks, she said. The park construction will be paid for with a $900,000 Land and Water Conservation Fund grant and a bond, and the city will use gas tax and transportation impact fee revenue to pay for the street work, Rummler said. Construction is set to begin this summer.
On Monday, the Missoula City Council also approved a $150,000 contract with the consulting firm TischlerBise and design firm Houseal Lavigne to analyze the cost of annexation and provide an updated map and recommendations for a new annexation policy. The goal is to evaluate the impacts of annexation and development of those lands on the city’s infrastructure, maintenance needs, levels of service and revenues, said Ben Brewer, a city planning supervisor. The city identified the need for a new annexation policy, which was last updated in 2019, as part of its code reform process, he said. A federal grant will pay for the contract.
The Missoula County Public Schools board Tuesday appointed Seeley Lake resident Virginia Haines to the vacant trustee position representing high school district “D,” which includes the Seeley Swan, Potomac, Clinton and Sunset areas. Haines is a retired teacher and the former MCPS director of special education, according to her application. Lisa Davey, who previously held the seat, did not file to run for the position earlier this year. Haines will serve until the May 2027 school election.
Missoula Public Works and Mobility will begin its annual chip seal program Monday, with work continuing through Aug. 6, weather permitting. Chip sealing protects streets from more significant deterioration, according to the city. Crews will work 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday on streets throughout the city. Street crews will place “no parking” signs in each neighborhood one day before work begins and will help direct traffic to maintain access. Residents in work areas can help crews by moving their vehicles before work begins, turning off sprinklers the day before and on the day of construction to keep the pavement dry, driving slowly and avoiding sharp turns on new chip seal and using extra caution when walking, biking or riding a motorcycle through freshly chip-sealed areas. The streets the city plans to chip seal are listed online in tentative order.
Front Step Community Land Trust and Stories for Action are screening a new documentary Thursday about the history of the Northside neighborhood organizing that led to the rehabilitation of the White Pine Sash mill site. The film, “From the Ground Up: Restoring a Neighborhood, Reclaiming its Future,” looks at the community members who came together to push for the cleanup of the former mill site, paving the way for the Scott Street-Ravara permanently affordable community land trust homes being built there today. The screening, followed by a short panel discussion, is at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 23, at the Headwaters Confluence Center, 119 W. Main St.
Might be Fun
The National Museum of Forest Service History is holding a grand opening Friday for its National Conservation Legacy Center, highlighting the agency’s conservation history. The event kicks off at 10 a.m. with speakers, followed by a ribbon-cutting, lunch, music, special guests and activities. The museum, located at 6304 Highway 10 West near the airport, will be open with free admission from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. After Friday, the museum will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Missoula Family YMCA and Missoula Community Squash are celebrating the opening of two new regulation squash courts Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25, at the Y’s Russell Street campus. Missoula Community Squash raised more than $225,000 for the project at the Y’s Airnasium facility, a covered outdoor court space. A ribbon-cutting is set for 9:30 a.m. Friday, followed by professional squash exhibition matches from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. On Saturday, Missoula Community Squash will hold free community clinics for all ages and skill levels. The group will offer regular newcomer clinics, youth programming and social play going forward.