Emily Goodykoontz

The municipality’s 200-bed shelter contract with nonprofit Henning Inc. is coming online this week. Plans for another 200 beds are still in the works, city officials say.

The HOPE Team’s goals include helping connect homeless residents to services and to “establish positive police contacts,” said Lt. Brian Fuchs with the Anchorage Police Department.

Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said her administration will soon roll out a “detailed,” updated snow removal plan.

On Tuesday, the Anchorage Assembly also approved the sale of the city’s unbuilt prefabricated Sprung Structure to the Port of Alaska for $2.39 million. The money will fund shelter services.

The rates of cold injuries among people without housing in Alaska also steadily rose from 2012 through 2021.

Catholic Social Services will take over management of the city’s 200-bed shelter on 56th Avenue starting next week.

The city intended to use the prefabricated Sprung Structures facility as a mass homeless shelter until the Anchorage Assembly halted the project in 2022.

In an 8-4 vote Tuesday, the Assembly approved a $250,000 legal settlement with Demboski, whose accusations included retaliatory firing by former Mayor Dave Bronson.

In 2022, former Municipal Manager Amy Demboski alleged she was fired by former Mayor Dave Bronson for raising concerns about unlawful and unethical conduct at City Hall.

Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s proposed budget is about $173,250 below the city’s tax cap and about $25.6 million more than this year’s budget.

The decision supports a plan presented by utilities but also allows further study of a different option presented by the Eklutna tribal government.

Hoping to attract and retain more workers, the Municipality of Anchorage expanded remote work options to the Anchorage Municipal Employees Association, a union of about 500 staff.

Farina Brown, special assistant in homelessness and health for Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance, is tasked with tackling some of the city’s most complex challenges.

The city is preparing to open 500 emergency winter shelter beds next month.

The city has five years to complete the project, which aims to improve safety along a 1.5-mile stretch of Bragaw Street, between the Glenn Highway and Northern Lights Boulevard.