A woman approached a scattering of tables set up at Mountain View’s Davis Park.
“Do you have tampons?” she asked.
It took a bit of searching, but eventually — yes, they did have tampons.
It was a Wednesday afternoon at the largest homeless encampment in Anchorage. A variety of organizations were there, offering things like clothes, toilet paper and medical care. Staff with the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness were taking down the names of those who’d like to get into transitional or permanent housing. It’s a long list, with more than 3,000 people waiting, including Tracey Wooden.
“I got sick,” she said. “I got breast cancer, and we weren't able to keep up with the bills with all that, and so we lost our place.”
She said she is healthy now, but she and her partner are living out of an RV packed with their belongings.
“We survived the winter,” she said. “It was a tough one, I gotta say — just trying to keep warm in that motorhome.”
Even though she’s been on the coalition’s list for about a year, she may have more winters ahead of her. She said she has no idea how long it’ll take before it’s her turn to move into housing.
The people in charge of the coalition aren’t sure either. Yes, they say, their program is working — a majority of the thousands of people they’ve placed in housing over the years have not returned to the streets. But they say they are also up against a huge problem: There is not enough accessible housing in Anchorage. So, right now, the list of names that Wooden is on is barely moving.
“We never tell someone that you will be housed in this period of time, because we just don't know,” Jessica Parks, the coalition’s chief operating officer, said. “We don't know what will happen.”
One emergency away from homelessness
The number of people experiencing homelessness has gone up in Anchorage in recent years.
Parks said a lot of people have stories just like Wooden. While rent in the city recently stabilized, many Anchorage residents are “cost-burdened,” which means they spend more than a third of their paycheck on rent.
“It's not affordable,” she said. “It's not sustainable. It puts you one emergency away from homelessness, and that's what we see.”
The coalition keeps track of who is homeless in Anchorage by doing outreach all over the city. Their list includes people’s names and camp locations, as well as personal information like their history with homelessness, eviction records and whether they’re fleeing domestic violence. Staff periodically check back in with people to keep the document up to date. As housing becomes available, they reach out to whoever qualifies for that particular place. Those who have been homeless the longest get the highest priority. Once housed, their rent is subsidized through federal, state, local and philanthropic programs.
Since 2017, the coalition has moved roughly 6,800 people out of tents, shelters and RVs, and into housing.
The coalition tracks people for two years after they’re placed in housing, and the data shows that, so far, 76% stayed off the street during that time.
“The coalition is getting really good at housing,” Parks said. “But we don’t have a lot of homes for people on the list. It’s a blessing and a curse.”
‘Red-taped ourselves into this corner’
The accessible housing shortage is partly driven by rental restrictions, Parks said. Medical debt, like Wooden’s, may show up on a credit report, and many realty companies won’t rent to those with eviction records.
There’s also just not a lot of new homes being built, Parks said. She said housing construction in Anchorage started to decrease after the recession, and has really slowed to a crawl since the pandemic.
Parks said empty commercial buildings around the city can’t be easily turned into housing.
“We have red-taped ourselves into this corner,” she said. “There are so many regulations around fire code, around building safety, that it is extremely difficult to convert things like office buildings into housing.”
She said there is a fair amount of money dedicated to homelessness from philanthropy and local, state and federal governments. But she said that money doesn’t necessarily go to building homes or subsidizing rent.
“What we see a lot here in Anchorage, is money going into shelters, and shelters don't solve someone's homelessness,” she said.
On Wednesday afternoon at Davis Park, Wooden didn’t bother checking in with folks at the coalition table. She said they know where to find her if she moves up on the list. And besides, they told her not to expect housing anytime soon. But, she said, she’s not giving up.
“I would love to be able to cook in my own place and have groceries and have a refrigerator,” she said. “I'm going to kiss that refrigerator!”
She said once she has a home — whenever that is — the first thing she’ll cook is biscuits and gravy.
