Tester tours future home of Missoula homeless shelter

MISSOULA- Montana Senator Jon Tester toured the outside of the the former Trails End Bar building, which will be Missoula's new homeless shelter in the coming months.

The Poverello Center will tear down the bar building and will build a new three story structure in its place.

A portion of the new homeless shelter's funds are coming from the Veterans Affairs Committee since about 20% of the shelter's homeless population are veterans.

The Pov says its construction plans are preliminary at this time. They want to work with the community to come up with a design that will be best for everyone.

"We're hoping to just get people up off the floors, get them into bed spaces, continue to provide food and clothing and necessary emergency services that we provide every day right now," said Eran Fowler, Poverello Centers Director of Operations.

"It's our hopes always that they can transition out of place like this and get back into the private sector and have a home of their own," Tester commented. "Really make life all it can be for fighting for this country."

The Pov says it has an agreement with the owner of the Trails End Bar property and they home to move forward with their construction plans by mid-summer.