Race in the Missoula Coordinated Entry System/Homeless Management Information System
The data on race and other demographic and social variables within the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and our Missoula Coordinated Entry System (MCES) makes it strikingly apparent that significant inequities exist resulting in far greater numbers of BIPOC and non-white neighbors experiencing houselessness. These charts show that while Native American/Alaskan people make up 1.6% of the total Missoula population, they make up 14.5% percent of our unhoused neighbors participating in the Missoula Coordinated Entry System. African American people make up just 0.8% of the total Missoula population, but 3.4% of our unhoused neighbors in MCES. White people make up only 63.2% of our unhoused neighbors, while making up 91.1% of the total City population.
*Note: The City of Missoula Census Data graph indicates that Hispanics can be part of every racial category. The Hispanic percentage has been distributed here to make up 2.6 percentage points of the White category, which leaves 1.1 percentage points of Hispanic population to be spread out over the other racial categories. Of these 1.1 percentage points, we have assigned 0.3 percentage points to the "Two or More Races" category, with the other 0.8 percentage points distributed across the other racial categories, but to what extent that 0.8 percentage points is distributed among the other racial categories is not specified on the Census data available online.
We can’t ignore the facts shown by this data and Reaching Home is actively taking steps to try to ensure that housing services and resources in Missoula are prioritized and distributed proportionate to the makeup of the folks moving through our houseless system. Some of those steps include:
Collecting comprehensive data as a tool to objectively measure how we are, or are not, serving all Missoulians and to clearly identify areas in which we can improve.
Involving lived experts (people who have personally experienced houselessness) as expert consultants, staff, and colleagues with Reaching Home, Missoula Coordinated Entry System (MCES), and all work related to supporting folks who are unhoused in Missoula.
Transforming the way strategy and policy is created and executed by centering around the expertise of those with lived experience, and encouraging a shift to recognize lived experts as colleagues in this work.
Examining our processes to distribute our housing resources in an effort to ensure that they account for the racial inequities apparent in our data, which clearly show a much higher rate of BIPOC and non-white neighbors experiencing houselessness when compared to the demographic data of the Missoula community.
