The mayor of Anchorage, Alaska, says a proposal to open a city-sanctioned homeless encampment is not viable.
The Anchorage Assembly recently proposed a plan for the city to spend $7 million on semi-permanent structures to shelter the homeless in an effort to keep public parks from being “overrun” by vagrant encampments.
Republican Mayor Dave Bronson said the proposal is a “band-aid on a bullet hole” in a recent interview with the Washington Examiner.
“What we will be left with is decommissioned sanctioned camps, no plans for winter, another record-setting year of outdoor deaths, and no money to fund the protection against this,” he said. “We cannot let sanctioned camps be the shiny object that distracts us from actual year-round shelter.”
The proposal from city officials involved purchasing small shelters from the public benefit corporation Pallet.
“While the concept of these sanctioned camps and Pallet shelters may hold some feeling of euphoria for addressing homelessness in this moment, we must confront the realities of limited resources and funding,” Bronson said. “This is simply a Band-Aid on a bullet hole.”
He called the proposal “an unrealistic endeavor” and said the city should instead “prioritize emergency cold-weather shelter to protect vulnerable individuals this winter season.”
The Dallas Express reached out to Mayor Bronson’s office and the City of Anchorage for additional comment but received no response by press time.
Anchorage Assembly Chair Chris Constant previously said he is “not a supporter of sanctioned camps as a principle.”
“I believe it’s a compromise that says, ‘We’ve lost.’ Because the answer to this problem is housing,” he continued, per Alaska Public Media.
Constant noted that the federal government only provides funding for housing-oriented initiatives. Hence shelters and city-sanctioned camps would have to be paid for entirely by local taxpayer funds.
“Camps, while it sounds like a cheap solution, it’s not a cheap solution,” he said.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Dallas City Council members have proposed using funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to build “tiny homes” for the homeless to combat rising homelessness and vagrancy throughout Dallas.
While many cities across the United States wrestle with how to combat homelessness and vagrancy, San Antonio has found success through a partnership with the nonprofit Haven for Hope.
The strategy employed by this partnership is that of a “one-stop-shop” solution that provides housing and supportive services in a single location rather than several dispersed throughout the city.
This approach keeps the problem contained to one area and is favored by Dallas voters, according to polling conducted by The Dallas Express.
Despite the City of Dallas’ efforts to quell the growing problem, further polling has shown Dallas parents, in particular, remain concerned about homelessness, vagrancy, and panhandling throughout the city.
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