Anchorage, Alaska – Last night, the Anchorage Assembly passed AO 2020-66(S), As Amended, authorizing the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) to make an important and needed investment in behavioral health and homelessness response infrastructure. The ordinance authorizes the Municipality to pursue the purchase of four properties:
- The Alaska Club building (630 East Tudor Road) is the proposed location for a midtown shelter with a day engagement center for the unsheltered population.
- America's Best Value Inn (4360 Spenard Road) is the proposed location for use as transitional and permanent supportive housing with a resource center.
- The Bean's Café building (1101 E. 3rd 11 Avenue) is being used for meal preparation and distribution, and is the proposed location for a downtown day engagement center to provide services to the unsheltered homeless population in that area, along with the clients at the Brother Francis Shelter.
- The Golden Lion Hotel (1000 East 36th Avenue) is the proposed location for a substance use disorder treatment center for all seeking care.
The ordinance authorizes the Municipality to spend no more than $22.5 million to acquire and renovate the properties. Ten million dollars from the sale of the conditionally approved sale of Municipal Light and Power will be been dedicated to the acquisition and renovation of the substance use disorder treatment center. CARES Act funding would be used to purchase and renovate the other three properties.
The new substance use disorder treatment center would address the longstanding need for additional behavioral health treatment in Anchorage, which has been compounded by reductions in treatment beds over the last decade.
The other properties will meaningfully reduce homelessness in Anchorage by addressing the shortage of shelter and housing identified by the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness (ACEH) Gap Analysis & 2021 Community Priorities For the Homeless Prevention & Response System. The Gap Analysis documented the need for 450 additional shelter beds, 155 transitional housing units, 1,695 rapid rehousing units, and 700 supportive housing units in Anchorage.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the need for additional shelter and housing options. Implementing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended six feet of physical distancing between cots reduced Anchorage's shelter capacity by four hundred beds. Physical distancing requirements are likely to remain in place into the foreseeable future, and the mass shelter established at the Sullivan Arena is not a long-term solution.
The investments authorized by AO 2020-66 will bring Anchorage closer to having the housing and shelter capacity needed to make homelessness rare and brief.
The ordinance was co-sponsored by the Mayor, Assembly Chair Felix River, Assembly Member Meg Zaletel, and Assembly Member Christopher Constant.
Next Steps
The passage of AO 2020-66(S), As Amended, allows the Municipality to begin the negotiation of the terms, conditions, and purchase price of the properties, along with the Request For Proposals (RFP) process in search of four operators: one for each facility. The MOA anticipates the RFP timeline will take approximately three to four months.
The RFPs will include the following evaluation criteria:
- How the operator will provide programming and quality services that mitigate impacts to the neighborhood and promote positive use of the properties.
- Transportation plans to ensure clients reach appointments and other points of destination.
- Create opportunities for outdoor recreation that are safe and private.
- Ways to minimize unstructured client pedestrian activity around the facility.
While the RFP process unfolds, the MOA will continue due diligence, including the following:
- Finalize acquisition costs.
- Determine the cost to renovate.
- Work through any entitlement issues, such as use determination, parking requirements, etc.
- Determine the cost to operate, both expenses and potential revenue streams.
Background
The proposed property acquisitions are the culmination of years of planning and coordination between the Municipality and private and nonprofit partners. Homelessness response organizations operate together under a unified plan, the Anchored Home Strategic Action Plan to Solve Homelessness in Anchorage: 2018-2021. Providers participate in the coordinated reentry system and a shared data system that operates with more accurate and shared data.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Municipality and its partners swiftly relocated more than 350 adults to the Sullivan and Ben Boeke Arenas, which allowed for the CDC's recommended six feet of spacing between cots. A “Community Resource Hub" brought service providers on-site to help those in need. The “Community Resource Hub" quickly re-housed people who needed short-term assistance to pay rent or who were displaced by COVID-19 job loss and led to nearly two hundred people being housed between mid-April and mid-June.
The Municipality continues to work with its partners to build upon that success by making more housing units and shelter available across town, limiting the number of individuals staying in any one shelter, and ensuring shelters are co-located with support services.
AO 2020-66 Frequently Asked Questions may be found on the Municipality's Addressing Homelessness website at muni.org/homelessness.
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Media contact: Carolyn Hall, Communications Director, Office of the Mayor, (907) 343-7103, carolyn.hall@anchorageak.gov