Homelessness

Christopher Moore helps another Juneau homeless resident wheel her belongings from a makeshift campsite on private property near the airport on Monday. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)

‘Displacing the displaced’ Juneau’s homeless population still seeks official place to camp

Juneau’s homeless continue moving camps, Juneau Assembly responds to Supreme Court decision

Christopher Moore helps another Juneau homeless resident wheel her belongings from a makeshift campsite on private property near the airport on Monday. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Tents occupied by people experiencing homelessness stand across the street from the Glory Hall on June 10. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)

Ban on homeless sleeping outdoors upheld by U.S. Supreme Court in case watched by Juneau leaders

Some local leaders suggesting restrictions in areas near social service providers.

Tents occupied by people experiencing homelessness stand across the street from the Glory Hall on June 10. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Glory Hall Executive Director Mariya Lovishchuk points out some of the features of the homeless shelter’s new location a few days before it opens in July of 2021. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire file photo)

Mariya Lovishchuk stepping down after 15 years as executive director of the Glory Hall

Leader who oversaw big changes in Juneau’s homeless programs hopes to continue similar work.

Glory Hall Executive Director Mariya Lovishchuk points out some of the features of the homeless shelter’s new location a few days before it opens in July of 2021. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Curtis Davis sharpens a spike at his makeshift campsite near Juneau International Airport on Sunday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

With no official place to camp, homeless and neighborhoods alike are suffering miseries

Complaints to JPD nearly double, social agencies seek “safety zone,” many campers just want peace.

Curtis Davis sharpens a spike at his makeshift campsite near Juneau International Airport on Sunday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Scattered debris remains on a tent platform at the former Mill Campground on March 28, where people experiencing homelessness stayed during recent summers. Officials decided not to open the campground there this summer due to a high amount of illegal activity last year. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

Lack of homeless campground means more people are on the streets, Assembly members told

Ordinance authorizing a campground approved Monday night, but where to put it remains elusive.

Scattered debris remains on a tent platform at the former Mill Campground on March 28, where people experiencing homelessness stayed during recent summers. Officials decided not to open the campground there this summer due to a high amount of illegal activity last year. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Bailey Woolfstead, right, and her companion Garrett Dunbar examine the selection of ceramic and wood dishes on display at the annual Empty Bowls fundraiser on behalf of the Glory Hall at Centennial Hall on Sunday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Empty Bowls provides a full helping of fundraising for the Glory Hall

Annual soup event returns to Centennial Hall as need for homeless shelter’s services keeps growing.

Bailey Woolfstead, right, and her companion Garrett Dunbar examine the selection of ceramic and wood dishes on display at the annual Empty Bowls fundraiser on behalf of the Glory Hall at Centennial Hall on Sunday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
People staying at the city’s cold weather emergency shelter during its final night of operation board a bus bound for the Glory Hall and other locations in town early Tuesday morning. In the background are tour buses that a company says were broken into and damaged during the winter by people staying at the shelter, and one of the first cruise ships of the season. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Juneau’s homeless head outdoors with no official place to camp as warming shelter closes for season

“Everybody’s frantic. They’re probably all going to be sleeping on the streets by the stores again.”

People staying at the city’s cold weather emergency shelter during its final night of operation board a bus bound for the Glory Hall and other locations in town early Tuesday morning. In the background are tour buses that a company says were broken into and damaged during the winter by people staying at the shelter, and one of the first cruise ships of the season. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
TJ Beers holds a sign to advocate for the rights of people experiencing homelessness outside the state Capitol on April 9. Beers was homeless for four years and in three states. “I don’t know how I survived,” he said. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)

Lawmakers weigh whether to reduce or acknowledge rights of growing Alaska homeless population

As cities try to house people, Dunleavy’s protest bill would further criminalize them, advocates say.

TJ Beers holds a sign to advocate for the rights of people experiencing homelessness outside the state Capitol on April 9. Beers was homeless for four years and in three states. “I don’t know how I survived,” he said. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
A fenced lot proposed as a campsite for people experiencing homelessness located next to the city’s cold weather emergency shelter, in the background, is also next door to a businesses where extensive construction is scheduled, thus prompting city leaders to rethink the proposal. (Photo by Laurie Craig)

Indefinite ‘dispersed camping’ for homeless proposed by city leaders due to lack of suitable campsite

Proposed Rock Dump site is next to long-term construction, more costly than expected, report states.

A fenced lot proposed as a campsite for people experiencing homelessness located next to the city’s cold weather emergency shelter, in the background, is also next door to a businesses where extensive construction is scheduled, thus prompting city leaders to rethink the proposal. (Photo by Laurie Craig)
A gate stands at the entrance to the Little Rock Dump about a mile and a half south of downtown, which is being proposed as a campsite for people experiencing homelessness this summer by some business operators near the city’s cold weather emergency shelter, stating there have been problems from people staying there. (Photo by Laurie Craig)

Homeless will be on their own when warming shelter closes, as Assembly ponders campground decision

Deputy city manager: “There will be a period of time where we don’t have a CBJ-sanctioned campground.”

A gate stands at the entrance to the Little Rock Dump about a mile and a half south of downtown, which is being proposed as a campsite for people experiencing homelessness this summer by some business operators near the city’s cold weather emergency shelter, stating there have been problems from people staying there. (Photo by Laurie Craig)
A lot in Thane near the city’s cold weather emergency shelter, seen at right in the background, is being proposed as the site for a campground for people experiencing homelessness that would open in April. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Moving homeless campground next to warming shelter strongly opposed by nearby businesses

Damage, safety, theft among concerns cited in petition to Assembly, which considers proposal Monday.

A lot in Thane near the city’s cold weather emergency shelter, seen at right in the background, is being proposed as the site for a campground for people experiencing homelessness that would open in April. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
An assortment of furniture, clothing and other household items are exposed to the elements at Mill Campground after being left behind by residents who departed ahead of the campground’s closing last October. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

Surge in illegal homeless activity prompts city to look at moving Mill Campground

Lot next to cold weather shelter considered after report cites drug use, violence, other trouble.

An assortment of furniture, clothing and other household items are exposed to the elements at Mill Campground after being left behind by residents who departed ahead of the campground’s closing last October. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
An empty classroom at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on July 20, 2022. (Photo by Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)

With deadline looming, more than half of Alaska’s relief funds for homeless students are unspent

Alaska legislators and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski consider push for an extension

An empty classroom at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on July 20, 2022. (Photo by Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)
An encampment of homeless people is off of 1st Avenue in Anchorage on Nov. 21. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/Alaska Beacon)

Domestic violence is feeding Alaska’s homelessness crisis

Part of the series “Domestic violence in Alaska: A crisis at home.”

An encampment of homeless people is off of 1st Avenue in Anchorage on Nov. 21. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/Alaska Beacon)
People arriving on a shuttle bus enter the city’s new cold weather emergency shelter on Oct. 20, the first night it was open. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)

Emergency cold weather shelter in Thane gets official OK from Assembly

City officials call shelter a success so far; skeptics say some homeless people are avoiding it.

People arriving on a shuttle bus enter the city’s new cold weather emergency shelter on Oct. 20, the first night it was open. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)
A pedestrian pushes a shopping cart on Cordova Street during a heavy snowfall on Thursday in Anchorage. Four homeless people have died in Anchorage in the last week, underscoring the city’s ongoing struggle to house a large houseless population at the same time winter weather has returned, with more than 2 feet (0.61 meters) of snow falling within 48 hours. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Anchorage adds to record homeless death total as major winter storm drops more than two feet of snow

Four homeless people have died in Anchorage in the last week, underscoring the city’s ongoing struggle to house a large homeless population at the same… Continue reading

A pedestrian pushes a shopping cart on Cordova Street during a heavy snowfall on Thursday in Anchorage. Four homeless people have died in Anchorage in the last week, underscoring the city’s ongoing struggle to house a large houseless population at the same time winter weather has returned, with more than 2 feet (0.61 meters) of snow falling within 48 hours. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
A map shows areas of downtown Juneau considered at severe (red) and moderate (blue) risk of avalanches. The Juneau Assembly is scheduled on Monday to give initial consideration to an ordinance regulating development in such areas. (City and Borough of Juneau)

Assembly to consider new hazard zone proposal to regulate avalanche areas, notify landslide risks

Warming shelter, off-road vehicle park, Suicide Basin monitoring also on agenda for Monday’s meeting.

A map shows areas of downtown Juneau considered at severe (red) and moderate (blue) risk of avalanches. The Juneau Assembly is scheduled on Monday to give initial consideration to an ordinance regulating development in such areas. (City and Borough of Juneau)
Kevin Jainese sets up his cot along the 40 already provided by staff at the city’s new cold weather emergency shelter at a warehouse in Thane on Friday night, the first for the new facility. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Amidst a contentious process, a quiet opening night for city’s new cold weather emergency shelter

Staff — some recently homeless themselves — welcome first overnighters to converted Thane warehouse.

Kevin Jainese sets up his cot along the 40 already provided by staff at the city’s new cold weather emergency shelter at a warehouse in Thane on Friday night, the first for the new facility. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
A city-owned warehouse about a mile south of the Goldbelt Tram is scheduled to open as a winter warming shelter starting Friday. The shelter will have cots, hand-washing stations, outdoor portable restrooms and other basic services. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

City: Emergency warming shelter to be open daily 9 p.m.-7 a.m. (8 a.m. Sundays) starting Friday

Multiple evening shuttles from Glory Hall and downtown, one in morning from Thane shelter planned

A city-owned warehouse about a mile south of the Goldbelt Tram is scheduled to open as a winter warming shelter starting Friday. The shelter will have cots, hand-washing stations, outdoor portable restrooms and other basic services. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
A flyer left Thursday under a car windshield of an employee at a business near the winter warming shelter scheduled to open Friday at a city-owned warehouse in Thane informs residents of an Assembly meeting Monday to discuss the shelter. The flyer also refers to a petition leaders at Resurrection Lutheran Church are circulating seeking to operate the shelter again at the church this winter after doing so the past two years. Karen Perkins, the church’s pastor, stated church leaders did not put flyers under windshields of businesses in the area or suggest people distributing the notices do so. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Resurrection Lutheran Church leaders circulate petition to again operate winter warming shelter

Objections voiced about shortcomings at planned site, lack of input by affected agencies and people.

A flyer left Thursday under a car windshield of an employee at a business near the winter warming shelter scheduled to open Friday at a city-owned warehouse in Thane informs residents of an Assembly meeting Monday to discuss the shelter. The flyer also refers to a petition leaders at Resurrection Lutheran Church are circulating seeking to operate the shelter again at the church this winter after doing so the past two years. Karen Perkins, the church’s pastor, stated church leaders did not put flyers under windshields of businesses in the area or suggest people distributing the notices do so. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)