Reaching Home is Missoula’s foundational plan to comprehensively address housing instability and houselessnes through coordination and collaboration across Missoula’s housing services. This program has been in place for 10 years, established in 2012 through an effort coordinated by the United Way of Missoula County. In 2016 the city of Missoula assumed responsibility for Reaching Home. The program has expanded in the past few years through an increase in collaborations and partner organizations. In order to evaluate the impacts of Reaching Home during the past decade, JG has been contracted to help the city understand what has worked and what hasn’t, where the success lies, and provide a strategy for the future of Reaching Home’s “housing first” based framework.
JG’s contract has included collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data and review of program documentation. The study will continue through the fall with JG’s Erika Berglund and Suzanna Powell conducting interviews with folks experiencing homelessness to better understand their experience and needs. The full evaluation hopes to provide insights into future strategies for Missoula’s housing programs and efforts to ensure that houselessness is rare, brief, and one-time only.
For more information, visit https://missoulaunitedway.org/reaching-home.