Urban Camping Working Group drafts final recommendations for city council

Questions remain about how Missoula’s City Council will implement recommended policies set forth by the Urban Camping Working Group at its final meeting on Wednesday. 

Members of the city council, business leaders, service providers and homeless representatives finalized a one-page preamble that includes five main recommendations: ban camping on city property, regulate people staying in vehicles, create camping buffer zones, create rules for an authorized camping site and update the city’s law enforcement of the homeless.

Rep. SJ Howell, HD 95, speaks on camping buffer zones during the Urban Camping Working Group’s final meeting in Missoula on Wednesday evening. A majority of the working group members agreed with new policies, though nine of the 24 members fully or partially dissented from the final recommendation, which will need full city council approval.

BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian

The working group, spearheaded by Mayor Andrea Davis, has been meeting since February to create solutions to address urban camping. Last June, former Mayor Jordan Hess declared a state of emergency over the lack of shelter space and the high number of people sleeping outside, which city officials

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