“Every time we house somebody, somebody else comes on our radar,” said Dave Ringle, who works with St. Vincent de Paul Juneau helping families and seniors find housing.
Juneau’s housing crunch usually worsens in the spring, as seasonal workers make their way to town. But this year, Ringle said the situation is scary.
He got an email from a fisherman who planned to bring his large family to Juneau from the Lower 48 for the summer while he fished. Ringle knows how hard it will be to find housing for a family and he’s worried he won’t be able to help.
“I don’t want to see people like that come up here and become homeless,” he said. “And I wish I had a better answer for people.”
St. Vincent de Paul housed 16 families in the last year, and they’re working with around six more right now.
By many metrics, Juneau’s housing issues are getting worse. State data shows that in the first week of February last year, there were about 270 people experiencing homelessness in Juneau. In the same week this year, that number is around 330.
Ringle said there are housing projects and programs in the works that will alleviate the strain on the community, but those projects take a lot of time.
“So it’s a short term emergency with few answers,” Ringle said. “And yet, long term, we’re at a point where as a community, we cannot be healthy without a larger supply of housing.”
Some people who do have housing are facing eviction due to large amounts of overdue rent from the pandemic-era eviction moratorium. St. Vincent de Paul helps with rental assistance, but their funds have been spread thin.
“We ran out of the money that was used for that, because it was going out almost 50% faster than it had any other year,” Ringle said.
While the evictions open up rentals that Ringle can move other people into, the people being evicted then face the same issues. He said often people end up on the streets while looking for another place.
“I’m just hoping we keep people safe through the summer,” he said.
The warming shelter at Resurrection Lutheran Church closes down until next winter Sunday, and the city-run Mill Campground opens for the summer on Monday. That campground is above the cruise docks and is meant for unhoused people to use in the warmer months.
