Steve Austin beamed as he showed off his new apartment at Q’et’en Qenq’a, meaning “elders’ house” in the Dena’ina language. It’s a small studio with big windows in Midtown Anchorage.
“This is the living quarters,” he said, gesturing to the main room. “It’s my living room, dining room and my bedroom. Got a beautiful, queen-size bed to sleep on.”
He pointed to the kitchen and said he cooks a lot for himself and one of his favorite things to make is a big pot of chili.
The building is also known as Providence House and the project combines housing, case management and health care. Austin said the last time he had stable independent housing was about five years ago and living here will help him get back on his feet and get his life together.
“Being in the shelter system, that is not a normal life,” Austin said. “You have to be on your guard all the time that somebody’s not stealing your belongings. Here, you don’t have to worry about that, because everything is in your room. You’re there by yourself. You don’t have to share anything with anybody else.”
The supportive housing complex is a collaboration between Providence Alaska, Southcentral Foundation and other community partners. It will house single people or couples over 55-years-old who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness, some of the rapidly-growing number of elders experiencing homelessness in the city.
Austin was one of the first residents to move in to Q’et’en Qenq’a. Sixteen people live there now and ultimately it will house about 45. Experts hope it’s a small but important step towards helping solve the complex homelessness problem in Anchorage. The city has the largest population of people experiencing homelessness in the state and not enough shelter space to support them. 17% of people in emergency shelters in the city are over 55.
Michelle Baker, who heads Southcentral Foundation’s behavioral services division, said it’s a constant challenge to find people supportive housing in the state.
“What we have today doesn’t meet the needs of the thousands of individuals that live unsheltered,” Baker said. “So, we are super grateful for the providers that have permanent supportive housing…but we certainly need a lot more.”
Baker said after the city closed the temporary shelter in the Sullivan Arena last summer, it was hard to keep people in new housing without helping them with other health and behavioral health needs. So, she said organizations, including Providence and Southcentral Foundation, started talking about collaborating to help people with more holistic care.
Southcentral Foundation will have an office suite on the first floor of Q’et’en Qenq’a where they’ll offer case management, medical care, and behavioral health care. Baker said it’s one of the first programs in Anchorage that will offer housing alongside therapy and behavioral health care.
Tim Zaricznyj, who heads Providence’s supportive housing projects, said housing can be seen as a first step in providing good healthcare.
“Someone who’s experiencing homelessness, someone who has chronic health conditions, someone who has struggles with mental health, they come in, and our first intervention is housing,” Zaricznyj said. “Our first intervention is stability.”
He said providing permanent supportive housing like this project also reduces costs in the health care system overall. Research shows that even after a year of supportive housing, people are much better off, more connected to health care providers, and they rely less on expensive emergency care services, Zaricznyj said.
Heather Skelton-Fry, a clinician working in intensive case management for Southcentral Foundation said their office space isn’t yet finished, but she’s already working with residents.
“It’s been really exciting watching people come from not knowing where they’re going to sleep or where they’re going to live and then they get handed this beautiful new space to live in, and it’s providing a sense of hope,” Skelton-Fry said.
She said it’s always a challenge to find stable housing for her clients, so this collaboration will allow patients to work on other needs. And she said the public often has misconceptions about who needs help with housing. The cost of living in Anchorage is high, and she said many elders rely on social security or other benefits that often aren’t generous enough to cover market-rate rent with living costs.
New Providence House resident Steve Austin is one of those people, and as he figures out his basic needs, he said he has more plans. He wants to create a small space in his studio so he can make art, and he hopes to date again.
“I’d like to kind of get myself back into a relationship with somebody, and maybe even get married,” Austin said. “ I’ve never been married before, and I’m 65 years old. It’s time.”
Austin said dating while staying in shelters is hard because they have strict curfews. But now that he’s living in Q’et’en Qenq’a, he can stay out as late as he wants.
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Rachel Cassandra covers health and wellness for Alaska Public Media. Reach her atrcassandra@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Rachel here.
