Missoulians Band Together to Find Homes for Families
Recent construction on west 3rd Street and Russell across from the Good Food Store in Missoula has put many low-income families out of homes. A trailer court was bought and families were told to leave. Michael Moore with United Way explained the situation:
"That place had been home to about 15 individuals and families," Moore said. "Those people were paying in the neighborhood of $300 and a little less to rent their space. Most of them had lived there for a very long time and felt like 'This is where I live and this is where I'll die.' Obviously it's not illegal to sell the property and for somebody to come in and do something with it, so that's what happened in this case."
Moore said since the excavation, Missoula has outlawed “trailers on wheels” which means a trailer with wheels cannot be relocated within the city limits. Nevertheless, the demolition of their homes left many without a place to go and Moore got a call for help.
"This was kind of outside the bounds of areas where we had tried to help people before, so we kind of barged off into some uncharted territory," Moore said. "We wound up asking some favors of some landlords, I wound up driving around in my car out in West Riverside looking for any place a mobile home could be, places where mobile home places had names, places that didn't have names, and we got those people moved."
Moore said even though a situation like this may happen again, he is better prepared for what to do in this type of situation.
Click here to find the complete episode with Michael Moore on Talk Back.