Politics and pessimism are weighing down Anchorage’s latest push for a new homeless shelter

Anchorage officials-elect don’t want to use Sullivan Arena as a low-barrier homeless shelter beyond April. For years, they’ve generally agreed that using multiple, smaller shelters works better.

But going from that general consensus to considering specific shelters quickly goes sideways. The most recent example took place at the Anchorage meeting of the congregation this week.

In February, the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness proposed that the Arctic Recreation Center on Arctic Boulevard would be well suited to be converted into new, permanent, accessible housing. It’s up for sale for $12.5 million.

Assemblyman Felix Rivera chairs the committee that raised it, and he was excited about the potential for 150 more beds, space for navigation services and other opportunities. His excitement was short-lived.

“Why did I change my mind?” he said during Tuesday’s assembly session. “Reality hit me pretty hard in the face. It was truly a coming to Jesus moment.”

The recreation center is in his assembly district, and he said he received a lot of opposition from his constituents. He urged his colleagues in the Assembly to drop that concept, as well as the idea of ​​housing that Mayor Dave Bronson will be referring to near the intersection of Tudor and Elmore streets – which is also in Rivera’s borough – during his 2021 campaign. had pushed.

For the city’s most vulnerable people, the Assembly and Mayor have repeatedly failed to create new, accessible housing and have repeatedly resorted to using the Sullivan Arena.

“I wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking, ‘Not in my neighborhood,'” Rivera said. “But here’s the thing: We need to move beyond those two examples, move beyond those gut reactions of what protection can and should be in our community.”

He said elected officials need a fresh round of engagement with the public about the community’s overall conservation policy and philosophy before making decisions about specific sites. And that, he claimed, could happen with enough time for a new, permanent, low-barrier shelter to be established by November.

Rivera’s attempt to get the two sites off the table was part of a resolution he was proposing on a public engagement campaign he called a “blank slate strategy.”

The assembly voted 7-4 in support of the public engagement campaign – but wouldn’t drop the two shelter ideas.

“I don’t think a ‘restart’ conversation preemptively takes options off the table,” said Assembly Member Daniel Volland.

Public safety in his district has suffered from the spillover effects of housing the mass shelter at Sullivan Arena since 2020.

The revised resolution says the assembly will not make any decisions about specific housing until a process for weighing the public and neighborhood is established. Rivera, who is running for re-election, plans to hold many committee meetings and ward council meetings on permanent, year-round accessible housing this spring and summer.

Assembly member Austin Quinn-Davidson was pessimistic that Rivera’s plan would change things.

“I don’t know if that will get us anywhere,” she said. “There’s a lot of discussion about, ‘Oh, it’s a clean slate’ or ‘This is going to be a whole new thing.’ We’ve been doing the same thing for years – it’s the same. And then we get feedback that we don’t like and then we try to do something new. And it’s the same.”

Mayor Dave Bronson played a role in the final pushback round. Last week he announced he would be hosting a town hall at the Arctic Rec Center. It is scheduled for Friday from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the recreation center at 4855 Arctic Boulevard.

Bronson referred to the scattered discussions of individual members of the assembly about the possible conversion as the “Plan of the Anchorage Assembly” and said the assembly is actively engaged in funding state legislatures.

On Tuesday, he chided the congregation for failing to engage with the public earlier.

“I found this weird, irresponsible, bad public process,” Bronson said.

Members of the congregation said it was misleading and premature. Nobody has officially proposed to the municipality to buy the recreation center and convert it into accommodation. Some members of the assembly admitted they brought it up as a potential project when they recently met with state legislators.

At the meeting, Bronson also livened up the conversation about building a navigation center and accommodation at Tudor and Elmore. He said he was determined to find a way forward.

“This project will not be abandoned. It has gone through a robust public process,” he said. “This is a project waiting for the congregation and I to finish what we started.”
A contractor began work on the project last year but stopped after the administration admitted it had exceeded its authority to pay for it without assembly approval. The Assembly and Mayor are still trying to resolve the unpaid contractor’s claims.