Another man has been found dead at an Anchorage homeless camp, bringing to 23 the toll of men and women who were homeless or otherwise familiar with street life who have died outdoors around the city in just over a year.
Police said they received a call about 10 a.m. Friday that the man had been found in a downtown camp at Third Avenue and Eagle Street. A friend of the victim came across him, said police spokesman Marlene Lammers.
Police have not yet released the dead man's name.
The medical examiner plans an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death, police said.
The man was the third homeless or semi-homeless person to be found dead on the streets in three weeks. Betsy Chuitt, 39, of Anchorage was found in a tent in a wooded South Anchorage area on June 23. Her boyfriend reported they had had a night of drinking and he had awakened to find her dead.
Police later said they were investigating that death as a homicide, though they have not publicly revealed a cause of death.
The body of John Smith, 66, of Anchorage was found June 14 in a pile of cardboard at the Anchorage Recycling Center on Rosewood Street.
In that case too, police say they are still investigating the cause of death.
The toll of homeless deaths grabbed the city's attention in May 2009, when bodies began turning up in city parks, a mall trash bin and hidden-away homeless camps in small patches of woods throughout the city. Most of the deaths were natural, many hastened by hard drinking.
Police have said they don't believe the deaths are connected.
The mayor's homeless leadership team last month approved more than a dozen recommendations on how to deal with the growing problem of street alcoholics. Many of the recommendations have to do with getting more of them into better housing.
"All of our issues eventually lead to a need for housing. If we need more treatment, then people still need to go somewhere after treatment," city Health and Social Services director Diane Ingle said at a May 4 meeting of the task force.
After hearing about Friday's death, she said, "Any death we consider to be tragic, and the fact that people are dying in camps is concerning. I don't think we have an immediate solution."
Friday afternoon, police were still processing the scene where the man had been found in a tent and were not letting anyone near the patch of woods where it and other tents stood. The dense woods fill a hilly city block directly north of the industrial Ship Creek area. They are centrally located for a homeless person by being near the Brother Francis Shelter and Bean's Cafe, which serves the homeless food.
In late June, the Anchorage Assembly passed an ordinance allowing city employees to clear homeless camps after giving camp occupants five days' notice. It replaced a controversial year-old city law allowing police to clear out the camps with as little as 12 hours' notice. The American Civil Liberties Union had argued for 10 days' notice.
Find Rosemary Shinohara online at adn.com/contact/rshinohara or call 257-4340. Find Megan Holland online at adn.com/contact/mholland or call 257-4343.
By ROSEMARY SHINOHARA and MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News