BOZEMAN — On Tuesday, the Bozeman City Commission passed an ordinance providing legal defense to renters facing eviction. It’s the first of its kind in Montana, and the first of its kind for a city this size.

“It’s a step towards ending homelessness,” says Connie Howell, who has lived and rented in Bozeman for going on 26 years.

“We moved over here to Bozeman because we were homeless in Missoula,” said Howell, whose family was evicted from their Missoula rental in 1999.

“The process was the deputy sheriffs knocking on the door, handing me my papers, telling me I had five days to get out, and my landlord in the background snickering,” said Howell.

This led Howell’s family – including her young child – to live in a state campground for months.

Bozeman becomes first Montana city to guara

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