The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday narrowly passed a measure to set up a pilot campground for up to 60 homeless residents.
Whether the city has the time, staff and money to do it this summer as envisioned is not clear yet.
Supporters hope a temporary, supported site with some minimum safety and sanitation considerations will improve some campers’ situations, as well as problems with neighborhood crime and nuisances around existing, unofficial campgrounds. If successful, they say the model could be expanded in the future.
Felix Rivera leads the Assembly committee that works on homelessness issues.
“I’m not sure that this is what we should be doing, 100%, but damn it, we need to try something,” he said.
Shelters in Anchorage are full. Hundreds of people are living outdoors.
Opponents say the time and money going into the pilot will come at the expense of winter shelter planning and long-term housing. Assembly member Meg Zaletel, who is also the head of the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness and sat out the vote because of the conflict of interest, was the most vocal opponent on Tuesday.
“I feel like we are on a hamster wheel of waste,” she said. “We are wasting time. We are wasting resources.”
Standing up the campground falls largely on the mayor’s homelessness coordinator Alexis Johnson. She said she’s not sure it can be done by the end of this summer, but it’s possible.
“I think there is one key component that’s missing, and that’s funding. How do we set up a camp with no money?” she said.
The Assembly had a meeting scheduled Friday to discuss funding for homelessness efforts, though it’s been canceled.
Johnson said working on the campground will impact her division’s planning for winter shelter.
Where the pilot campground will actually go became less clear Tuesday.
The Assembly passed a resolution last month urging it be set up at a city-owned vacant lot at 40th Avenue and Denali Street, near Cuddy Family Midtown Park. But the ordinance the Assembly passed Tuesday leaves the location up to Mayor Dave Bronson’s administration.
“I have real problems setting things up at 40th and Denali,” Bronson told the Assembly. “That’s a problem putting it there. I’m getting blown up, as I think you are, by residents, setting it up there.”
The Assembly’s ordinance does impose some site requirements. It must be in an open space with clear sight lines. It cannot be in densely wooded areas or certain rights of way. Public trails, greenbelts and playgrounds are also off the table.
The measure got seven yes votes, the minimum needed to pass. Chris Constant, Kameron Perez-Verdia, Scott Myers and George Martinez voted no.
Bronson told Assembly members Tuesday that he also wants to work with them to “intensively manage” unofficial campgrounds, especially the one at the edge of downtown on Third Avenue.
“I sat with two of my directors in the parking lot at Third and Ingra and watched drug deals go down. I’m seeing we’re now storing boats at Third and Ingra. I’m kind of focused on Third and Ingra right now,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of bad behavior out there. There’s probably a good 10 to 15 people that simply need to be, uh, put under control forcefully. Because the victims are the people who are the peaceful people that are living in tents there. So I think if we manage that site very intensively, I think the local community there would be more amenable.”
RELATED: Can Anchorage clear homeless camps? Here’s where lawyers and the courts stand.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that a scheduled meeting Friday on homelessness funding has been canceled.
Jeremy Hsieh covers Anchorage with an emphasis on housing, homelessness, infrastructure and development. Reach him at jhsieh@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8428. Read more about Jeremy here.
