Homelessness

The Anchorage Assembly approved a contract with nonprofit Henning Inc. to open a 50-person warming area on the eastern side of downtown.

New data from the Anchorage Police Department shows that 2023, rather than being an anomaly, may have been the beginning of a persistent rise in outside deaths among Anchorage’s homeless population.

The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday narrowly approved a $2.3 million contract with local firm MASH Property Management to run the additional shelter beds.

The city is in final negotiations for a $2.3 million contract with a property management company to open more shelter beds.

The move comes after a recent spike in fatal pedestrian-vehicle crashes.

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.

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.

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 is planning to open 500 winter shelter beds in late October, according to a top administration official.

The administration of Mayor Suzanne LaFrance says an Anchorage Health Department investigation into homeless shelter contractor Henning Inc. completed in the final days of the previous administration was flawed and inadequate — but won’t be redone.

The Next Step initiative has moved 177 people into housing and provides them a year of rent assistance and case management support.

Church leaders say the encampment shows why the shelter village is needed. Neighbors want the city to clear out the encampment, worried it will harm the project.

Homelessness is at the top of the agenda for candidates in mayoral races across the U.S. West. But they differ on whether it’s OK to clear encampments that have spread as the crisis has deepened and how much to rely on temporary housing.

Business owners say the new encampment has brought a surge of problems and crime to the area. Homeless residents say they moved there because they had nowhere else to go.

After mounting pressure from businesses and residents, the city gave notice to several dozen campers Tuesday that they have three days to leave.

Tight on staff, funding and shelter beds, Anchorage officials are wrestling with big questions on how the city should handle homeless camps that pose serious public safety problems.

Members approved a contract extension with Henning, Inc. to continue operating the shelter inside a former Solid Waste Services building.

Officials say Anchorage likely now has more latitude to clear any encampments that it deems problematic and unsafe, even without shelter beds to offer homeless campers.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has through Friday to issue any vetoes of state budget items, including $4 million the Legislature included to keep Anchorage’s 200-bed homeless shelter open.

The dense sidewalk camp on Fairbanks Street exposes an ill-defined policy on homeless vehicle camps. Community leaders and business owners say they don’t understand why the city hasn’t taken action.

The city hopes to receive about $4 million for sheltering from the state, but “it’s not guaranteed until the governor signs the budget,” said Assembly member Felix Rivera.