Couple launches Helena nonprofit to build inclusive homeless shelter

Charles Payne and Patricia Juza are trying to turn personal experience with homelessness into a shelter plan that could give Helena a year-round bed, breakfast and a predictable place to go each morning. Their new nonprofit, New Beginnings, is now looking for a building, donors and community partners in a city where 185 people were counted as unsheltered in Lewis and Clark County in 2025 and 24 Helena residents died while homeless.

The need extends far beyond the people visible downtown. Local advocates say many unhoused residents are doubled up, couch surfing or living in vehicles and campers, which means the street count can miss a large share of the problem. United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area said at least 100 people were still using housing vouchers while searching for studio or one-bedroom apartments, and its outreach materials said rent rose 35% in one year, one of the steepest increases in the country.

Payne said the shelter idea is meant to fill a basic gap: a place that stays open every night of the year and gives people a routine instead of a revolving door of temporary fixes. Juza said the effort grew after the couple lost an unsheltered friend a few months ago and decided to move from talking about the crisis to building a response. New Beginnings has already set up a website and bank account so it can begin accepting donations, but the group still needs a physical building and conversations are underway with churches, businesses and other organizations.

The stakes are not only humanitarian. United Way has estimated emergency services for unsheltered people cost about $27,000 per person per year, a burden that can ripple into hospitals, law enforcement and public spaces when people have nowhere stable to stay. Helena Public Schools had already identified 253 students as homeless under McKinney-Vento about a month into the 2025-26 school year, 43 more than at the same point the year before, while Family Promise said 300 students were identified as experiencing homelessness or housing instability in September 2025.

The shelter landscape is shifting, but not fast enough to absorb the pressure. Family Promise’s 16-room women’s and children’s shelter at 2814 N Cooke St. was under construction and expected to serve residents by spring 2026, even after Good Samaritan Ministries withdrew from the partnership in May 2025, leaving funding in place. Helena also has the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, created in 2020 and funded at $100,000 a year from the general fund, along with a separate $100,000 set aside in 2023 for homeless-crisis projects. The scale of loss was underscored at Helena’s 2025 Longest Night memorial, which honored 24 people who died while experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.