Beans Cafe Executive Director Lisa Sauder said funding to serve food has all come from donations. Im just free outside, said Larry Tunley, born and raised in Anchorage and a longtime Davis Park resident. Wesley Early covers municipal politics and Anchorage life for Alaska Public Media. But why werent arrangements made then?. An Anchorage police officer and a man were wounded in a shootout at the city-owned campground that has been turned into an outdoor shelter for homeless people. Travel Bugs and Geocoins. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org. Corey Allen Young, a spokesman with the mayors office, said the city is working to address safety concerns with 24/7 security at the campground. If you go out there and say, Hey, sign up, if you talk to me and Ill get your housed, Thats a promise that you cant make, Staten said. The latest effort is a three-year plan called Anchored Home that aims to reach functional zero by next year. I think a better thing you can do as a citizen is use all that energy to call Mayor Berkowitz and Governor Dunleavy. Now, hes back in the camp, facing another abatement. On a gentle June morning, Brian Vaughan strode through the forested paths of his adopted home, a sprawling encampment on the edge of Anchorages Mountain View neighborhood. More than 800 reports of camps about five to eight per day have been recorded so far. In an era of face masks and hunkering down, the protesters found it unconscionable that authorities seemed to turn a blind eye to scores of homeless people roaming freely, possibly spreading COVID-19. The arena is serving as a emergency homeless shelter during the coronavirus pandemic. The plan involves stronger collection and sharing of data. Last September, on a day so cold the ground was frozen and layered in frost, Vaughan left the camp for a few hours to bring back food, water, propane for heaters and other supplies. Which makes it so much quicker for us.". Roughly 200 houseless people are staying at Anchorage's Centennial Park. The idea is to invest in new strategies that have shown success in other parts of the country, including accurate identification, tracking and follow-up of people who experience homelessness. It became clear they were part of her support network, said Tullius. Sean Jimmie of Toksook Bay said he "isn't homesick yet" but looks forward to fishing as he sat on a cot on the concrete floor of the Sullivan Arena that has been converted to the Bean's Cafe emergency shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anchorage, AK AncWorks Camp Dashboard allows residents to report Phylicia Timmerman, 34, of Dillingham was recently staying at the Ben Boeke arena, which sheltered women, couples and members of the LGBTQ community. With bathrooms and water and all that.. (Marc Lester / ADN), Jonathon Cannon, center, is confronted by a man on Third Avenue after the two exchanged angry remarks near a homeless camp there on April 17, 2020. The Sullivan Arena is shutting down. With the citys recent removal of some homeless camps nearby, things are looking better than they have in a long time, Tullius said. Some people seem resigned to living on the streets or in the woods. Whats going to happen in November? camper Rodney Reeves asked. Public transportation can be difficult, and waiting for buses in the cold can be excruciating. The Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness says about 1,100 individuals were homeless in Anchorage last year, a number that has remained nearly flat since 2013. The one thing we dont want to do is jeopardize the safety of the campers to stick to a timeline. Police have posted warnings that the camp will soon be dismantled and cleared. Camps can pose fire risks in some areas, and Braniff says camping in school routes has been an issue. A handful of Davis Park residents have even banded together to fight the citys abatements in court, appealing an administrative court decision to allow the abatement to go forward. Vaughan wants order: I keep tellin these guys, he said. Some residents fed up with Anchorages homeless problem say the city-collected data isnt transparent. Anchored Home got a strong financial boost last fall. Or simply dial 211 and follow the prompts. The. Roughly 200 houseless people are staying at Anchorages Centennial Park. Campsite Assessment, Removal, and Property Retrieval Contact her at mtheriault@adn.com. Occupational therapist Kevin Knight with Orthopedic Physicians Alaska takes the temperature of a client entering the Bean's Cafe emergency shelter at the Sullivan Arena on Monday evening, April 27, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Why has it gotten so bad? She describes herself as a survivor of domestic violence who battles residual damage to her brain, ears and eyes. Williams said she doesnt plan on moving to shelter, despite the outreach from RurAL CAP and over 100 open beds at the Sullivan Arena, the citys main shelter. Theres also a growing sense among many residents that enough is enough: Things have been bad for a long time, the misery and impacts across the community are getting worse, and somehow as a city, the time has come to solve the problem, or at least make a meaningful dent. (Marc Lester / ADN). McPherson found a recent Wednesday particularly soul-crushing. A good paycheck is essential to eke out a middle-class lifestyle dinner out occasionally, affordable child care, a reliable vehicle. Several times a year, people are found dead outdoors. So were certainly adaptive.. "It gives us the exact coordinate," Officer Gordon Korrel said on a recent weekday, between knocking on Chester Creek tents. He revived one woman three times, he said. Keele has been a regular at the camp for a month and said when he tried to enter the camp four minutes past the closing time Sunday night, he was refused. Theres absolutely no way you can keep your stuff safe, he said. Finding Anchorage's hidden homeless camps? 6th Avenue is closed between Gambell and Karluk. Let's Go Caching! Foxglove said camp clearing causes campers to lose a lot of their possessions. Anchorage police informed people at an illegal homeless camp at Third Avenue and Ingra Street on Thursday, April 30, 2020, that they should clear out before the camp is abated in 10 days. Jamie Meeks tosses a garbage bag as Parks and Recreation workers cleaned up a homeless camp along Chester Creek on Thursday, April 30, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Assess and work repeated calls for service at problem locations and work with Patrol for long-term solutions. Building Collapse: 570-Block of Ingra; Avoid Area Anchorage Police The Parks and Rec Department says its cleared more than 50 camps since Dec. 22. Im not trying to ask for a favor.. CAP is generally focused on what is considered traditional community policing strategies. He was like, hold on, and he went in there and looked for it. Emily Goodykoontz is a reporter covering Anchorage local government and general assignments. For people like Williams, camping is worth it, even with the added risk of abatement. I bring that agency back to the person because the person isnt always going to go to the agency," said Tanya Vandenbos, who travels with police and is paid through a grant held by Anchorage Community Mental Health Services. Anchorage has attempted to solve homelessness for decades. But other campers say theyre concerned for people who want to stay long term. One morning last week, he found himself shivering in a bare-floored tent in a park in Mountain View. Hes been evicted several times for failure to pay rent and utilities. Others want to improve their situation. As Anchorage campground continues as homeless camp, advocates - KTOO Sometimes the move to Anchorage just doesnt work out. They have all the comforts of home heating, food, gas grills, 100-pound propane tanks, baby carriages, cast-iron wood stoves, freezers, televisions, commercial totes used to move tons of fish, solar panels, generators you name it, said Webb. Over the course of two days of cleanup in the area, crews filled a red sharps container with used needles. Parks and Rec has done a great job. At the last count in August, about 450 people were. Some at Davis Park say theyve stayed at Sullivan Arena or other shelters but prefer to live outside. (Bill Roth / ADN), I want the mayor to enforce the law, said Richard Shafer, who lives on East Third Avenue, across the street from where a large homeless camp grew over the winter. And then theres the whole COVID thing.. But he expected that as soon as Sullivan Arena emptied out, more people would be coming to join the camp at Davis Park. The city currently has a plan for a navigation center and shelter to open on Tudor Road. Theyre saying theres no available housing, Vaughan said. It's disgusting. Functional zero means anyone who needs housing can get it quickly, and homelessness becomes a rare, brief and one-time event. The downtown Anchorage homeless shelter can house up to 240 people each night at regular capacity. Others said they dont like feeling closed in or the limited storage at the arenas, where guests belongings are kept to one tote. That kept the city from doing abatement in October, November, and December, when the Sullivan was mostly at or above capacity. The count, required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, aims to assist in measuring the extent of homelessness in Anchorage. In Anchorages subarctic climate, homelessness can be deadly. That was 2019s amount. (Marc Lester / ADN). APD Wellbeing Login. A new planned navigation center shelter near the intersection of Tudor and Elmore roads isnt expected to be ready until late fall, according to the city, leaving the city without a large, low-barrier shelter for months. That meant that on Friday, June 24, city workers would arrive to haul away the dozens of tents and shelters where Vaughan and a fluctuating population of 25 to 50 others live in Davis Park, near a rugby field, a disc golf course and a playground. The camp is structured around improvised shelters, with places designated for cooking, working, fixing and building things and trails between smaller satellite dwellings, little neighborhoods amid the forest understory. The Alaska Landmine is a owned and operated by Speedogate Media, a division of the Landfield Global Group. I am anticipating a significant increase in our numbers next year. We just dont have units available, said Jessica Parks, who oversees housing for RurAL CAP, one of the nonprofits that does direct outreach to campers. Through a rapid-rehousing grant, Wises case manager at McKinnell House helped her find an apartment. Just east of downtown, Jennifer Currie lives on the streets, most recently at a camp on Third Avenue and Ingra Street. In its latest Sullivan Arena shutdown report, the city says it remains confident the community need will be met and that exhaustive efforts are being made to house remaining guests. Patrol and monitor trail systems (summer & winter). Anchorage is not an easy place to live, even for those with roofs over their heads. The health department tested more than 225 homeless people for COVID-19 in May and all the results came back negative, according to the mayors spokeswoman. Shes exhausted, but needs to get to her next campsite about a quarter mile away in another city park before city workers come and clear out her current home. They question the statistics. Basically our stuff is considered trash to them, so they dont really care where it goes or what happens to it, he said. Well be reporting on impacts across the community and potential solutions. The skills needed to thrive in remote Alaska dont always translate in a much bigger city. Currently, officials will warn campers that they are unlawfully living on public land and return 10 days later to clear the site. Contact her at pdobbyn@adn.com. I cant stand to be inside.. Although the number of people experiencing homelessness in Anchorage is fairly stagnant according to official numbers, many residents and business owners say the city looks more dystopian by the month. Tue . Wild lupine blooms on the ground amid burn scars. With the new AncWorks Camp Dashboard, residents can now easily report the locations of homeless camps. Phylicia Timmerman, 34, who is originally from Dillingham, is homeless and pregnant with her fifth child and recently began staying at the women's mass shelter in the Ben Boeke Ice Arena during the during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our goal is to try to get people out of this system, said Sauder, standing outside the Boeke in the evening sunshine. Last week, Branson said campers found conditions to be deplorable. He said conditions have improved since then. Hours. It's also an. Spend time with Anchorages homeless residents and you quickly see a patchwork of complicated stories. He said hes hoping to leave soon and has plans to meet with local housing agencies so he can get surgery for his back that hes put off.