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Alaska Public Media
Officials are aiming to move all of Anchorage’s homeless campers into housing or shelter in October

Like last winter, the city’s current shelter plan includes reserving hundreds of hotel beds, and paying some nonprofits to provide extra space specifically for families and young people.

Unlike last winter, the plan does not include a mass shelter, like the one that was once run out of the Sullivan Arena where sometimes 500 people stayed. 

City officials say they expect far fewer people will need a low-barrier, walk-in shelter this winter. Homelessness experts think the total number of people living outdoors has been trending down lately, after several hotels were converted into low-income housing this summer.

Data Snapshot: Older Adult Homelessness

The Alliance’s latest data snapshot shows the rise in sheltered homelessness among adults over the age of 65, especially for those experiencing chronic homelessness.

• Why More Baby Boomers Are Sliding Into Homelessness (originally published in Wall Street Journal, 9/12/23)
• ‘Unconscionable’: Baby boomers are becoming homeless at a rate ‘not seen since the Great Depression’ — here’s what’s driving this terrible trend (Yahoo Finance, 9/23/23)
• Homelessness is still increasing. Older adults who can’t make rent are one reason why. (San Diego Union-Tribune, 9/24/23)
• Homeless population grays in Clark County as more seniors end up on the street (The Columbian, 9/23/23)

The Truth About Housing First

• Housing First is not a program—it is an approach to housing and service provision, and it is a whole-system orientation and response, which can and should be applied across all elements of the homelessness response system.
• A Housing First approach can be successful for any person, regardless of actual or perceived need, provided that the resources that they need and choose are available and accessible to them. Fundamentally, Housing First means using a trauma-informed approach to meet people where they are, without preconditions or mandatory requirements. It means continuously engaging and being able to respond to what they say they need when they are ready.
• We’ve all heard the statement, “Housing First does not mean housing only” and it is true. To be effective, there needs to be both housing and supportive services (i.e., health care, behavioral health services, substance use disorder treatment, employment/education supports, etc.) that meet the needs and choices of the people being served. If both are not available and accessible, then a program is not actually using a Housing First approach.
• Housing First is about health, recovery, and the ability to thrive. In order to have success in all of these areas, everyone needs housing, while the supports and services needed to maintain that housing need to be individualized.
• Housing First is not always implemented with fidelity to the model’s principles. Barriers to implementing Housing First with fidelity include severe resource limitations of housing, services, and staffing capacity. In some cases, programs that refer to themselves as Housing First may also be choosing to only follow some tenets of the approach.

Children’s Defense Fund Releases Report on Housing’s Impacts on Children