Helena Removes Homeless Encampment on Cruse Avenue After Complaints

City of Helena crews removed a homeless encampment on Cruse Avenue Thursday morning after residents complained that tents were blocking sidewalks, a city spokesperson confirmed to the Independent Record. The removal, officials said, was intended to restore pedestrian access on the street; the city has not released a count of people removed or whether outreach or shelter referrals were offered.

The action on March 5, 2026 followed a string of recent clearings in the area. Deputies with the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office cleared an encampment a few miles south of downtown in early November; KTVH reporting cited by Montana Free Press and Goodsamhelena put roughly 25 people at that earlier site, which had moved from private property to U.S. National Forest land before deputies intervened. After that clearing, Montana Free Press and Goodsamhelena reported some displaced people moved into Helena city limits to access nonprofit services while others left the area.

Helena Police Chief Brett Petty framed the city’s enforcement approach as limited to ordinance violations and safety concerns. “I think the main thing here is being unsheltered, being homeless, being considered transient is not illegal,” Petty told Goodsamhelena. “Just because you don’t have a house doesn’t mean you’re a criminal, and that’s the way we treat it. Now if you’re camping in the park, there’s an ordinance saying that you can’t, but we have to work with those folks because they don’t have other places to go.” Petty said officers respond to complaints on a case-by-case basis.

Service providers and city officials say capacity is constrained. A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development survey conducted with the help of United Way of Lewis and Clark found about 175 unsheltered people living in the county, Montana Free Press reported. Helena City Manager Tim Burton has said the city is working with local nonprofits to address unsheltered assistance, and nonprofit staff describe pressures at street level. God’s Love, located at the corner of North Last Chance Gulch and 11th Avenue, has tents and personal belongings propped up on the north side of its building; office manager Rachel Sanders said staff enforce a hard rule on violence toward employees. “We have one rule: It doesn’t matter if you’re drinking, using drugs, it doesn’t matter what your story is, the second you hit a staff member you’re gone, no questions asked,” Sanders told Goodsamhelena.

Photographic reporting documents camps inside downtown parks as well: Montana Free Press published a Nov. 30, 2023 photograph showing a small tarp camp in the back corner of Constitution Park. City and county clearings, service limits, and visible camps in parks and sidewalks have driven the neighborhood complaints that prompted the Cruse Avenue removal.

Key operational details about the Cruse Avenue action remain undisclosed: the city has not yet identified which department performed the removal, whether notices were given beforehand, how many people were present, or whether personal property was stored or disposed of. Those unanswered specifics underscore an ongoing tension for Helena officials balancing enforcement of park and sidewalk ordinances with a countywide unsheltered population and limited emergency shelter capacity.