Anchorage officials aim to keep camping in check as winter shelters wind down

Anchorage officials are trying to create some clear structure and guidance for people living in Anchorage without homes this summer. The idea is to avoid some of the public safety and nuisance issues that came up after winter shelters closed last year. 

On Tuesday, the Anchorage Assembly is expected to hold a public hearing and vote on an ordinance to limit the size of encampments, keep them away from existing year-round shelters, and create safe parking areas for people living in their cars. 

Last year, when the city’s winter shelters closed, officials had little guidance for the hundreds of people being put out. Encampments on vacant city land and in wooded areas ballooned all over town, along with hosts of problems within encampments and in the surrounding neighborhoods. 

“On our side, making clear expectations for those who are in encampments is really important,” said Meg Zaletel, executive director of the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, which worked with Mayor Dave Bronson’s administration to develop the proposed ordinance. “Last summer, it was very unclear. It was very unclear and it created a lot of uncertainty.”

Zaletel, who is also the vice chair of the Assembly, said being clearer about where camps will and won’t be tolerated will make outreach and education easier. 

The city’s homelessness coordinator, Alexis Johnson, explained. 

“We’ll have a map handy that says, ‘Hey, this is where you will have the least amount of trouble if you set up camp here. These are no-go zones, please do not set up here,’” Johnson said. “And establishing that relationship prior to a majority of shelter letting out so that people know where they can go in town and not have issues.”

Zaletel said limiting the size of camps will also make outreach safer and more manageable. The size limit hasn’t been set yet, but in a work session, city officials kicked around limits between 25 and 50 tents or similar shelters. 

Zaletel said barring campsites near existing shelters is helpful for keeping those clients on track. For example, she said someone trying to stay sober in a shelter wouldn’t immediately be confronted by people drinking. 

“What we often see, and we’ve seen before particularly on Third Avenue, is that if you are able to go to shelter and you are in shelter and you want to leave shelter to attend to your appointments or anything else, if camping is right there, and large encampments in particular, you are inundated,” she said. 

The last significant change the ordinance proposes is to create some city oversight and permitting for “designated safe parking areas.” The idea is that a church, nonprofit or government agency could make their property available for up to 50 vehicles for people to stay in. City health and planning officials would have to sign off that certain public health and safety issues were covered to get the designation. 

At its peak this winter, the city paid for more than 600 people a night to have a safe place to sleep. Johnson said some pieces of that system are already scaling down, with a complete closure scheduled for May 31. All together, she expects about 900 people to go unsheltered in Anchorage this summer. 

She said it’s far more expensive to manage the impacts of that population when they leave shelter, in terms of things like police and paramedic calls, emergency room visits and cleanups at camps. 

But there might be some relief coming from the state. Legislators working on the state operating budget in the House Finance Committee recently added a $4 million grant to keep the city’s 200-bed shelter in a former administrative building running through the summer. 

As just one small piece of a far bigger spending proposal, it’s far from guaranteed. But through a spokesperson, Mayor Bronson said, “This is a significant need that we face and I really appreciate the attention the Legislature is giving to this issue that affects all of Alaska.”