The Juneau Assembly will vote Monday night during a regular meeting on whether to turn the city’s cold weather emergency shelter into a year-round operation. Right now, it’s only open from mid-October through mid-April.
City officials say it would help address Juneau’s current lack of shelter space and housing units, and would reduce the number of unhoused people camping in the summer. If approved, it’s anticipated to cost the city $1.1 million annually to operate, including maintenance and utilities, paid for using general funds. The city currently spends $434,500 annually to contract for the shelter’s operation, not including maintenance and utilities.
The shelter is located inside a city-owned warehouse in Thane, about a mile from downtown. It’s funded by the city and operated by St. Vincent de Paul staff. Current cost here It’s considered Juneau’s lowest-barrier shelter and is meant to be a last resort for people without housing to survive the winter.
But when the shelter typically closes its doors in mid-April, many of its patrons are left with few options for where to sleep – especially since the city closed the Mill campground three years ago, which previously allowed unhoused people to set up camp through the summer. That resulted in Juneau seeing a surge of unhoused encampments throughout the borough, particularly near the Glory Hall shelter in the Mendenhall Valley.
City officials say the year-round shelter operation would provide an alternative to illegal camping and theoretically reduce the number of encampments around town.
That ordinance is open for public testimony on Monday night. So is another ordinance that would make the current City Hall building in downtown Juneau available for purchase.
However, the Assembly doesn’t plan to vote on the City Hall ordinance on Monday. They’ll hear public testimony and then refer the ordinance back to a committee to further discuss how they want to sell the building and any potential conditions they want added to the sale. After that, it will come back again for public comment in the coming months before a final vote.
Juneau residents have the chance to testify on ordinances on Monday’s agenda – as well as on non-agenda items – in person or online before the Assembly votes. People who want to testify online must notify the city clerk by 4 p.m. before the meeting. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
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