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Anchorage's emergency cold weather shelter plan | Alaska Insight

Felix Rivera and Alexis Johnson, two city officials, speak with Alaska Insight host Lori Townsend at a desk.
Assembly Member Felix Rivera and Housing and Homelessness Coordinator Alexis Johnson joined Lori Townsend to discuss Anchorage's cold weather shelter plan. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media)

The weather in southcentral Alaska changed dramatically during the second week of November and the heavy snow makes warm, dry shelter for unhoused Alaskans more urgent. In Anchorage, a 150-bed shelter opened October 31st in an unused municipal building. It was supposed to be the final piece of Anchorage’s emergency cold weather shelter plan for this winter. But less than a month into the season, there’s a shelter wait list with about 1,000 people on it. On this Alaska Insight, host Lori Townsend is joined by Anchorage Health Department Housing and Homelessness Coordinator Alexis Johnson, as well as Anchorage Assembly Member Felix Rivera to discuss the reasons behind the long list and the broader goals of the winter shelter plan.

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Madilyn Rose is the program producer at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at mrose@alaskapublic.org.