- Individuals dwelling in RVs or automobiles has surged in Bozeman, Montana, as housing prices have spiked.
- “City tenting” has made town’s unhoused inhabitants extra seen.
- Bozeman has the very best rents of any metropolis in Montana, which is coping with rising housing prices throughout the state.
So-called city tenting — when folks dwell in RVs or autos parked on metropolis streets — has risen quickly in Bozeman, Montana, the place locals are getting priced out by rising housing prices which might be impacting many communities in the West.
Bozeman, positioned within the Rocky Mountains about 80 miles north of Yellowstone Nationwide Park, has a inhabitants of round 56,000 folks. Metropolis officers say the variety of Bozeman residents dwelling of their RVs or automobiles spiked by 200% in two years, in response to Montana PBS, which cited town. Since 2020, the general unhoused inhabitants has grown by 50%.
The rise in residents experiencing homelessness comes as housing prices have spiked. The median itemizing value for a house has gone from $669,000 at first of 2020 to $1.2 million in 2024, in response to metropolis information. In the meantime, rental prices in Gallatin County, the place Bozeman is positioned, elevated almost 19% from 2019 to 2022 and continued to rise, leaving the county with the highest rents within the state.
“Homelessness has at all times been on the radar,” Bozeman Mayor Terry Cunningham informed PBS. “This — with city tenting, RVs, extra automobiles — It is a latest phenomenon.”
Although homelessness within the metropolis has been rising because the pandemic, the rise in RVs and campers on metropolis streets made the issue extra seen, leading to tensions over learn how to tackle it.
“First, these of us are our residents too,” the metropolis web site says when discussing the way it’s addressing city tenting. “Many contribute to the workforce, ship their children to our native faculties, and will not seem ‘homeless’ while you see them at their jobs and within the space.”
Bozeman residents are divided over whether or not town has been too lenient in addressing the problem. In some areas, town has put in dumpsters and trash cans close to areas with campers to stop litter and supply the unhoused with a spot to eliminate their rubbish.
A bunch of native enterprise homeowners sued Bozeman final fall, arguing town was not doing sufficient to implement present legal guidelines that might stop folks from tenting on public streets. Enterprise homeowners say they’ve handled theft, vandalism, and situations of harassment.
Residents have additionally complained that some folks dwelling of their automobiles will not be doing so out of necessity however simply to economize on lease, pointing to the presence of latest automobiles and mills on the a few of the campers, PBS reported.
Mayor Cunningham informed the outlet a part of the problem is that town can not simply decide why people live of their automobiles or RVs, and persons are not required to reveal that info.
In November, town applied an ordinance geared toward limiting city tenting. It prohibits tenting on the similar location for greater than 30 days with out getting an extension and likewise prohibits tenting in entrance of sure locations, like companies and faculties.
The end result has been like enjoying musical chairs, folks dwelling of their campers informed the Bozeman Day by day Chronicle, which reported town has employed three roles to implement the ordinance.
“They’re making it more durable to be homeless. It is already arduous sufficient,” Steven Ankney, who lives in an RV with household, informed the outlet. “I perceive they do not need us on the road, however it’ll occur till they get livable locations for us, or reasonably priced homes for us, or locations that we are able to dwell.”
Town says it’s engaged on bringing extra reasonably priced housing to Bozeman and is working with the nonprofit Human Useful resource Improvement Council to construct a 24/7 shelter.
