Housing providers search for solutions to overcrowding in rural Alaska | Alaska Insight

Alaska Public Media | By Lori Townsend,

Valerie Lake

Published February 18, 2022 at 1:01 PM AKST

Television show host sits at desk and talks to guests over Zoom. — Alaska Insight host Lori Townsend talks to guests about rural housing challenges in the TV studio on February 17, 2022.

High cost, complicated shipping and limited building materials in rural Alaska contribute to tight quarters in many homes.

Lori Townsend discusses the limitations and solutions with Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness Chair Chris Kolerok and Colleen Dushkin, executive director of the Association of Alaska Housing Authorities.

a family on a couch watching tv with antlers in the background holding up ski goggles — Sophia Katchatag, her husband Murphy Katchatag and their son Eric, Jr., 4, watch TV in their small, two bedroom home in Shaktoolik, Alaska, in January 2022. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media)

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Lori Townsend

Lori Townsend is the news director and senior host for Alaska Public Media. You can send her news tips and program ideas for Talk of Alaska and Alaska Insight at ltownsend@alaskapublic.org or call 907-550-8452.

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Valerie Lake

Originally from the Central Coast of California, Valerie joined Alaska Public Media in July 2017. She creates original video content for the station's TV and digital platforms while also overseeing the Production Department. Before moving to Alaska, Valerie worked as an ENG Editor at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina. She also served in the U.S. Air Force as a TV and Radio Broadcast Journalist where she traveled around Europe, Africa, The Baltics, Australia, and the Southern United States reporting on military events, exercises, and missions. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, backcountry skiing, backpacking, yoga, and traveling.

See stories by Valerie Lake