At the end of June, the city closed the mass shelter at the Sullivan Arena, and began moving the people who were staying there to various locations, including the campground. Scholars and policy analysts who study homelessness say it can result from many factors, among them poverty, lack of employment, domestic violence, high housing costs, lack of mental health or addiction treatment, intellectual or physical disabilities and re-entry after incarceration. But at some point, to sustain it, if it is going to be a longer term effort, we would certainly welcome some additional funding from another source.. The family just moved in with a one-year lease. Mon 8am - 4pm. Theres even a group that assists this population called the Association for Stranded Rural Alaskans. In a 10-day abatement, the most common kind, a sign is posted and the campers have 10 days to move. I went to a place I thought I was safe. He was an automotive mechanic but a series of DUI convictions derailed him, he said. homeless programs and help in Anchorage, ak. Anything that will help them not camp anymore.". Parks and Rec has done a great job. Baker hired a security company to patrol her business. (Bill Roth / ADN). If you go out there and say, Hey, sign up, if you talk to me and Ill get your housed, Thats a promise that you cant make, Staten said. There was the time a man appeared into her yard and peeled off his clothes. The city pushed back against the COVID-19 claims. One morning last week, he found himself shivering in a bare-floored tent in a park in Mountain View. Rocks get hurled through her store windows, shattering the glass and rattling employees. That includes connecting people with various resources, including food, case management, supplies and donations. He says the camp clearing process doesnt give homeless residents a proper chance to contest it in court until long after the camp has been cleared. Roughly 200 houseless people are staying at Anchorage's Centennial Park, and advocates are worried about whether they're receiving the resources and care they need. That meant that on Friday, June 24, city workers would arrive to haul away the dozens of tents and shelters where Vaughan and a fluctuating population of 25 to 50 others live in Davis Park, near a rugby field, a disc golf course and a playground. Currently, officials will warn campers that they are unlawfully living on public land and return 10 days later to clear the site. The official number of 1,100 or so homeless individuals is based on a twice-yearly count on a single night. He arrived at his business around 9 a.m.. There was a lady who slept down the street, on Fairbanks Street, butted up to the cemetery, said McPherson. The demand for rental assistance right now is huge, said David Mayo-Kiely, Child in Transition program coordinator. Meanwhile, as the days tick down to the closure of Sullivan Arena, attention has centered on whether the city should continue to dismantle what it considers illegal encampments like the one in Davis Park. On 03/04/2023 at 07:40am Anchorage Police Department and medics with the Anchorage Fire Department responded to reports of a building collapse in the 570-block of Ingra Street. Let's Go Caching! Foxglove said the city should consider allowing campers in areas where they could use garbage bins and access to water. (Marc Lester / ADN), Larry Tunley, shown inside his tent at a camp in Davis Park on June 17, said he prefers to camp outdoors. Foxglove said camp clearing causes campers to lose a lot of their possessions. Camp clearing, a process called abatement, happens each spring. More than 800 reports of camps about five to eight per day have been recorded so far. For most, that meant likely losing all the belongings they couldnt carry out. They question the statistics. Overview. Because of COVID-19, agencies drastically scaled back outreach this spring as their workers hunkered down. Brian Vaughan said he expects more will come to Davis Park once the Sullivan Arena emergency shelter is closed. The portal, part of #ANCWorks!, will help the Anchorage Police Department contact campers in a timely manner, and expedite camp clean up. Anchorage Police informed people at an illegal homeless camp at Third Avenue and Ingra Street on Thursday, April 30, 2020, that they should clear out before the camp is abated in 10 days. Others were evicted because they couldnt pay the rent, their budgets blown by a hospitalization, a divorce, a lack of financial literacy. Shelters for the homeless were at capacity during the cold snap. Branson said hes happy things didnt escalate beyond that. It's disgusting. Roughly 200 houseless people are staying at Anchorages Centennial Park. Some other campers are drug users or have PTSD that makes it hard to live in a shelter alongside more than 400 people. To Greg Smith, Sullivan Arena was never an option. Within a few days, the camp is filled with supplies draped over with tarps for insulation. Others with deeper needs and lower income might get permanent supportive or subsidized housing when their number comes up on a waiting list. I lose business.. Its calmer, he said of the park. He has personally administered Narcan to five or six people. And dont mess with other peoples property. Henry Wheeler holds his son, Jaxzon Katelnikoff, 5, in their room at Safe Harbor, a transitional housing facility for homeless families with children, on Thursday, May 28, 2020 in East Anchorage. An Anchorage police officer and a man were wounded in a shootout at the city-owned campground that has been turned into an outdoor shelter for homeless people. White, a resident of the Northstar neighborhood along the Chester Creek near the Sullivan and Ben Boeke arenas. It became clear they were part of her support network, said Tullius. I feel like Im in jail if Im indoors. Likewise, COVID-19 has prompted Catholic Social Services to step up its efforts to move shelter users into transitional and permanent supportive housing, said Lisa Aquino, executive director. Its losing things that are precious. The Community Action Policing (CAP) Teams primary mission is to reduce negative activities within neighborhoods impacted by criminal actions or other behavior that degrades public safety or quality of life. A community meeting will be held Monday at 7 p.m. at the Pena Sports Fields pavilion, according to the Northeast Community Councils Facebook page, to discuss the changes made by Mayor Dave Bronsons administration. But the atmosphere feels far from secure. But things dont always go as planned. Hans neighbors are getting vocal, led by a group called the Third Avenue Radicals that has cleaned up garbage, called and written to city officials, and testified before the Anchorage Assembly to try to force change. For the working poor, Anchorage is hard, especially finding an apartment that doesnt devour a meager paycheck. Across town at the Salvation Armys McKinnell House, many homeless families are in a similar boat, trying to make it to smoother waters. People experiencing homelessness in the city regularly die from exposure. The plans first pillar is preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place. The setting sun casts a warm glow on the Anchorage skyline and frosty trees in the foreground during subzero temperatures on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020. So far, sanctioned camping isnt part of the citys homelessness plan. Assess and work repeated calls for service at problem locations and work with Patrol for long-term solutions. But in the presence of a highly infectious virus, the practice became potentially fatal. Alaska Natives make up a disproportionately high percentage of Anchorages homeless community about 45%, although they make up about 15% of the states overall population. People come to Anchorage from rural communities for what they think will be brief trips. Additional money to fight homelessness has also recently flowed. Asked how they were doing, Currie smiled and said, Fine., Myron Traylor pushes his belongings in a shopping cart as Anchorage Police and Parks and Recreation workers removed an illegal homeless campsite near Third Avenue and Ingra Street on Monday, May 11, 2020. We try to avoid it, because it becomes a conflict, he said. For Tullius, the saddest part was when the woman didnt want to be separated from the men when the time came. He was like, hold on, and he went in there and looked for it. (Loren Holmes / ADN). Anchorage is geographically isolated. Twenty people are currently being housed by the project, according to the United Way. Some receive dividend checks from Alaska Native corporations. Travel Bugs and Geocoins. COVID-19 also forced change in the citys emergency cold weather program, where homeless families would stay overnight at various churches around town. The number of people experiencing homelessness in these places puts a heavy strain on first responders and hospitals. That means that many residents who dont want to be in shelter are just moving from one illegal camp site to another. To check the status of an existing request select one of the options below: Questions regarding COVID-19, contact Alaska 2-1-1, Questions regarding trash service, recycling and dumpsters, Right of Way Concern = Signs, trash, cars, Air Quality, Food Safety/Sanitation, or other Health concern, Anchorage Fire Department (non-emergency if you have an emergency call 911), Questions or concerns related to Rental Vehicle, Marijuana, Tobacco or Room Rental businesses, Other (do not submit records requests through #ANCWorks), OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF ANCHORAGE, ALASKA 632 West 6th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska 99501. He supported allocating about $650,000 from the citys alcohol tax revenues towards camp abatement. (Marc Lester / ADN). Amid all of this, new investments and funding sources to solve homelessness are starting to flow into the city. Which makes it so much quicker for us.". The portal, part of #ANCWorks!, will help the Anchorage Police Department contact campers in a timely manner, and expedite camp clean up. . The difference, advocates say, is that during the winter months, campers face significant risks of frostbite each time theyre forced to move. Other efforts are already underway. Beans Cafe was on-site handing out food, but the future availability for basic services is up in the air since the Mayors administration hasnt said how long homeless people will stay at the campground. On a gentle June morning, Brian Vaughan strode through the forested paths of his adopted home, a sprawling encampment on the edge of Anchorages Mountain View neighborhood. Roughly 200 houseless people are staying at Anchorage's Centennial Park. Nearby Beans Cafe, a soup kitchen and emergency overnight shelter next door, closed and moved to the much larger Sullivan and Ben Boeke arenas. Some are stay-at-home moms who escaped violent relationships. During the pandemic, the north-south thoroughfare has grown more nightmarish than in recent memory with homeless residents sleeping in the doorways of businesses, begging outside liquor stores and wandering into oncoming traffic. The encampments often include human waste, trash of all kinds and discarded drug paraphernalia, such as needles. The Anchorage Daily News is spending the year looking closely at homelessness in Anchorage and in Alaska the problems, the complexities and ways to make things better. The city didnt announce publicly that it had started winter camp abatements until an Assembly Housing committee on Wednesday, where city manager Amy Demboski said it was happening on a limited basis in certain neighborhoods with a priority on public safety.