Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson says he doesn’t anticipate that the Sullivan Arena becoming a mass homeless shelter in the winter. He says that his administration is preparing a plan to purchase single-way plane tickets that will transport homeless individuals to their families or relocate them to warmer places.
Bronson revealed the idea on an interview in The Anchorage Daily News, and then discussed it during the press conference on Tuesday morning.
“It’s simple to manage,” Bronson said. “Someone declares, ‘I’d like to travel somewhere like Los Angeles or San Diego or Seattle or Kansas. It’s not our concern. My responsibility is to ensure there aren’t any deaths in Anchorage street.”
Bronson stated that the plan will be similar to the efforts undertaken by the Salvation Army last year, offering tickets to homeless campers staying in the Centennial Park campground. The Bronson administration relocated a lot of homeless people to the campground after closing the Sullivan Arena shelter that summer.
The city’s officials estimate that around 775 homeless people living in Anchorage.
The mayor claimed that the city set an outdoor record for deaths for homeless people last winter and he’s concerned that it could be more severe this year, particularly without a large shelter.
“This winter, we’re estimating perhaps even doubling that number,” Bronson said. “So I’ve got an obligation morally and that’s to help save lives. And if it means giving them some hundred dollars to purchase an air ticket to get where they’d like to go, then I’m going to make it happen.”
Some cities across the nation have chosen to transport homeless people to other cities and have had different levels of satisfaction. Some have been successfully brought back to families, some have ended in street corners of an entirely new city.
Assembly Chairman Chris Constant said in an interview with the media on Wednesday that the Assembly isn’t yet briefed on the plan of the mayor. He also said he has concerns, such as how much it will cost. He also stated that the majority of homeless residents of Anchorage come from Anchorage.
“I do not think there are enough people located in distant places who would want us to return them to their homes,” Constant said. “And that’s why, in terms of practical this raises a lot of questions.”
Bronson stated that he does not have a source of money for the idea at this point.
Constant as well as Bronson both acknowledged they both agreed Anchorage received little assistance from the state to tackle its rising homelessness problem however they’ll continue to ask for help from the governor and legislature. Although Anchorage is home to 40 percent of the population in the state, it also hosts around two-thirds of its homeless number.
