The Anchorage Assembly, which gave a grant to Henning Inc. to manage 200 beds at the Alex Hotel and Suites for homeless people needing shelter during the coldest months of winter, today gave a grant to a different provider, MASH Property Management, operated by Mark Begich, to operate up to 132 beds at the same hotel, which is located in Spenard.
It’s a grant that is 25% higher than what Henning got a few weeks ago.
The new grant, agreed on a vote of 7-4 during a special meeting called Tuesday, totaled $2,343,000 to run from Nov. 25 though April 15, 2025.
The reason given was that the city wanted to diversify its use of Henning, which some members of the Assembly don’t like, because of its association with the now-out-of-office Bronson Administration.
But the contract to Henning in September was for $98 per client per night, while the Assembly has given MASH, which was the second highest bidder, a contract for $125 per client per night. MASH is co-owned in a 50/50 split with Sheldon Fisher, former Department of Revenue commissioner in the Gov. Bill Walker Administration. Mark Begich was mayor of Anchorage from 2003 through 2009.
Between the two contracts, Henning and MASH have been awarded over $6 million since October to manage hotel rooms for the homeless. Henning and MASH will have some redundancies at the Alex Hotel, while Henning also operates hotel rooms at the Merrill Field In and Henry House.
There are several other homeless hotels around Anchorage, but a growing number of homeless are sheltered in Spenard hotels, increasing the crime and general lawlessness of the area along Spenard Road. The Chelsea Hotel serves as a cold-weather homeless shelter in Spenard, for example.
In addition to the cold-weather homeless hotels, the 56th Avenue congregate shelter (mass shelter) can accept 200 persons per night. The feeding of all of the homeless people being sheltered in hotels and at the mass shelter is done under separate contracts.
Assembly Chairman Chris Constant said the Assembly had little time to work on solutions, blaming the “stain of the previous administration” and referring to the homeless crisis as “the mess we were given.” The new mayor, who was on the Assembly before she ran for mayor, has now been in office for six months.
Read the authorizing document at this link.
Assembly members Zac Johnson, Karen Bronga, Randy Sulte, Mark Littlefield, and Scott Myers were no votes on the memorandum. The item had been “laid on the table” at the last minute, a technique used to avoid public scrutiny. The public had received no notification about the sudden expenditure.
“…operated by Mark Begich,”
Wow, I am surprised. Not.
Yep! He’s been grifting this for a few years now. Catch him on drive time radio and he will laugh and gloat about how well it’s been for him. Disgusting
Take a tour of the Aviator hotel downtown. It is absolutely stunning how nice it looks.
All paid for by the homeless industrial complex. And, guess who is an owner?
Isn’t it curious how there never seems to be enough money for city services like snow removal, police, firefighting, libraries, etc…
But, there seems to be an unlimited pot of money to ensure those who contribute NOTHING get all the comforts they might ever want.
Sounds like a Democrat run city to me
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink.
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Matthew 25.
So WTD what are YOU doing about it?
Easy to criticize others, hard to understand that you are the only one you can control to make a difference.
Compassion is different than this enabling. I wonder how many of the very same individuals rotate between city parks in the summer and hotels free of charge in the winter year after year.
So again, what do YOU do to help your fellow man?
Nice.
I notice the verse you cite does not include taxation for those purposes. I will give, but when the government takes from me by force to give, it is not charity. It is slavery.
.
Jesus: “Help your neighbors and take care of the poor and helpless.”
Apostle: “Can’t we just give our money to the Romans and have them do it for us?”
Jesus: “I will start over, let me know where I lost you.”
Nobody ever said that was the government’s job. And the devil can quote scripture to his ends.
He’s up there under his canine screen name
Actually, please explain to us all how taxation and charitable giving are equivalent.
Like, seriously?
Do you really think there is a fast lane into heaven because you paid taxes to be used to help the homeless? You have got to be kidding me.
.
Let’s see. Taxes, taken against my will, versus a decision on my part to share the fruits of my labor. Oh… yeah. In whidbey’s mind, there is no difference whatsoever. Equal across the board.
“For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” 2 Thess. 3:10
All of this from you……..? A man so tight with his money that he can’t even produce a small donation to MRAK? A man who uses MRAK to post his sanctimonious political pitches daily. A man who uses biblical verses to try and shame real donors and Christians? What a farcical phoney. Good for laughs only.
Guess what, Whidbey?
I give, and I give HEAVILY unto the less fortunate, as a PRIVATE individual, inclusive of unto the Food Banks, Clothing Banks, various women’s, family, and children shelters, as well as being a ‘Secret Santa’ every year to a different chosen ‘poor’ working family so as to provide needed winter gear and clothing within the hundreds of dollars.
I have done this every year for decades. As an individual. NOT as a governmental entity.
What have YOU done, except expect the Government to take care of said issues?
You are a pathetic individual who disregards the individual contributions of the most of us here over the ignorant belief that somehow, Government, within your own mind, solves the problem
Endless margarita stations at strategic points along Spenard, Midtown and similar areas where the blue tarpers hang out. In February they earn a space blanket w/ every dozen grande’s they suck down.
Space blankets provided by the parasites on the Anchorage Assembly. Marg’s provided by Save Anchorage Committee.
“…….”In fact, even when we were with you, we charged that anyone who was unwilling to work should not eat”……..”
2 Thessalonians 3:10
“……..The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me………”
Matthew 26:11
“…….If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially those of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever……..”
1 Timothy 5:8
“………..All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty……..”
Proverbs 14:23
HEY, Puppy, this is fun! Spreading the Word of God is good work!
Your turn…………
Good
Don’t want to be chipping them off the sidewalks.
No, bad.
Not enough money for snow removal. Not enough for police. Not enough for fire fighting, libraries, and other city services the taxpayers are funding.
.
But, plenty of money for the vagrants that contribute nothing to the city.
.
Not good in any way.
Anchorage do you really think the LaFrance Assembly gives a rats behind about you? Think again!
You Watch they’re gonna want the sales tax for the homeless. Why do I have to continue to pay for the homeless?
I don’t mind helping and get them on the right path and not year after years spend millions of dollars for lifestyle that most of them want and will not change. Yes my tax dollars could’ve went for road graders for plowing snow could’ve went to the school district could’ve went to the police department to enforce the laws.
Curious, how many assembly Are involved or getting money from the homeless.
Lots of coulda woulda shoulda in this comment. I’ve offered plenty of advice in MRAK comments drawing on front-line experience in homeless ministry, only for it to fall on deaf ears here as much as it did with Assembly members. Somehow, I’m supposed to believe that Joe Citizen, sitting in his breakfast nook on Upper Huffman, has Clue One about homeless response simply because he pays property taxes. In 2019, community members were on track to influence the retooling of Anchorage’s homeless response system, only for it to be sabotaged by Mayor Berkowitz with his emergency declaration in response to Boise v. Martin. He wasn’t the only culprit. I couldn’t tell if your last question was rhetorical, or if you’re really not aware of what Meg Zaletel has been up to the past three years.
Sean, I am fully aware and you can’t see the sarcasm in my message. Read it again. I don’t mind helping people getting up once and getting back into society but repeat offenders in the ones that don’t want to be helped. We shouldn’t be spending tax dollars on those where the tax dollars could be going for the tax paying citizens who want the city to be run correctly. There are no politicians that have any solutions that will fix the problem permanently, but they promise you the world and they deliver you more taxes. Yes Berkowitz didn’t do us any good the assembly hasn’t done us any good and the voters haven’t done us any good.
If we are going to help the poor and we’re going to do it with our tax dollars there’s about 7 billion poor people in the world. How many do you want to help with how much taxes do you want to pay people?
You are absolutely right Sean.
Voters are much too busy working to cover the cost of living in Anchorage to even be concerned about the ASSemblys spending habits or be concerned who are the real beneficiaries are.
Meg does a very good job of making sure the shuffling of funds from the treasury to her “Golden Goose” comes regular with future funding increases guaranteed as the taxing tactics are reevaluated daily.
Their refusal to approve Mayor Bronson’s navigation center near the hospital was a clear indication they absolutely care less about the alcoholic and drug addiction issues are NOT addressed which would hamper their business of managing the taxpayer funded homeless empire they have engineered and built.
Who can show me the chapter and verse that says the MOA (read tax payers) are fiscally responsible for the $$ to pay for housing the “homeless”?
How about the fiscal irrisponsibility of paying MORE per “client” cause the more fiscally responsible contractor had ties to the previous administration.
Wake up voting citizens …..
Chris Constant the gift that keeps on giving. The assembly had a super majority of weirdo liberals and still blame Bronson for the homeless problem.
Wasn’t LaFrance blaming Bronson for the snowplowing issues too?
With leftists, it is never their fault when things fail.
That issue was caused by the union operators who are never satisfied by a conservative mayor who keeps a watchful eye on union contracts.
They prefer Democrats who will sign anything at the taxpayers expense for votes.
Mark Begich did the most for the unions by raising property assessments to get the funding needed to approve longer term labor contracts with guaranteed annual pay increases just to get the votes needed to send him to DC for at least one term (as well as cooperation from the DOJ and FBI in a phony corruption scandal).
Christy Constant is a Assembly “member who does not listen to his constituents, only what lines his pockets and destroys our once beautiful city. It’s only downhill from here with him and his other commie “members”.
Stupid voters who vote name recognition and believe the OUTRIGHT LIES of the commie rag, the ADN, which does not have any journalistic integrity.
As a political misrepresentative, i can only pray that they get their karma back at them for their assault on WE THE PEOPLE. they seem to just want to destroy our city.
Prove me wrong.
Shure love the new landscaping off the New Seward and 36th and Tudor.
Let’s just remove all trees from Anchorage. 1 term senator Mark more grift.
The clearing of those trees at New Seward & Tudor/36th was going to happen sooner or later. Not due to the homeless encampments, but due to the major revamp of those intersections.
Since at least 2018, the state and the Feds have been planning to widen and change everything from Tudor to 15th avenue. I believe it is supposed to start summer 2025, but I may be mistaken
If you recall, Mayor Bronson didn’t want to buy the Golden Lion, formerly Best Western, on the southeast corner of New Seward/36th due to most of the parking lot being taken for the eventual road construction.
All that land that had the trees cleared is already owned by the State. There is even a plan to demolish the sushi restaurant off of Old Seward and 36th toward Moose’s Tooth to create more land for road work.
That land will sit vacant for 5 years or more. It was cut to remove the bums that occupied it. Don’t fool your self Voter.
“Stain of the previous administration”….gives us a break, the assembly fought with Bronson every single day, still managed to buy properties ill suited requiring expensive work for occupancy and yet there are still homeless camps probably the same number if not more people that won’t go to to these shelters. So what’s Constants next move, start a shuttle service to pick the homeless up if he can’t fill the shelters?
More likely than not.
He wastes our hard earned money like a drunken sailor.
When it comes to the mental illness and substance abusers in Anchorage this quote comes to mind, “If you build it, they will come”.
Throwing the money of Anchorage taxpayers away on helpless drunks, destitutes, mentally ill, degenerates, and perpetually unemployed. Classic enabling.
The city spend nothing on the homeless until the Berkowitz administration. Now suddenly the homeless are all over the place, and their population is growing.
Subsidize it and you get more of it.
Berky’s blue city roots served him well.
“If you build it, they will come”. But from where do they come? Percentage wise, many are sent away from their world without choice but with one-way tickets.
When will the State accept responsibility for the brothers/sisters dropped on Anchorage. Especially, those that have been killed on local State roads, over 10 this year.
The State legislators from Anchorage area are a large voting block, ie Andy, Mina, Matt, Forest, Elvie and others. Don ‘t act like this is only an Anchorage Municipality problem, when you represent the same constituency.
BOP, I am confused.
Why would the State have to take responsibility for individuals, whose behavior “in their world” most likely got them kicked out of the community? Should that not be their problem? It is a Muni problem when individuals just show up without any resources to speak of.
Your post makes little sense to me, can you please elaborate on your thinking!
Reply to A Taxpayer. Community Councils are the governing bodies of many villages. The State has given the power of law to the Community Council, with the Village Safety Officer under their thumb. The Community Council can rout out troublemakers and drunks. One method of swift justice is served through banishment A one way ticket to Anchorage. The VSO can call State troopers for help but are flown in from hundreds of miles and days away. Of course, this is one person’s opinion.
BOP, thank you, to my understanding community councils in villages operate similar to our assembly here in Anchorage, making rules and administering community functions. The same goes for APD, who report to the mayor. Simply because the state constitution grants the power of law to these councils does not make the state responsible for individuals, who have been banned by their village. I don’t see the leap you make demanding that the state take care of individuals, who most likely due to their own behavior in their village were banned (a practice I am not sure is actually constitutional, but I digress). Where are the native corporations in all that?
In reality, this grift will continue until Property Taxpayers have had enough. We need to track the expenditures // budgets and population of the homeless issue. Disclose it publicly, let voters decide if our elected officials are acting in a fiduciary manner, on behalf of the Property Taxpayers.
MASH Properties LLC posted two job postings on Monday 11/25/2024 to indeed.com and glassdoor.com, one day before the special meeting Assembly vote to approve the contract.
—
Positions:
Social Worker
Intake Housing Specialist
—
MASH Property Management LLC posted two job postings on Monday 11/25/2024 to indeed.com and glassdoor.com, one day before the special meeting Assembly vote to approve the contract.
—
Positions:
Social Worker
Intake Housing Specialist
—
Well, of COURSE they authorized said ‘funding’!
Let us see…. $125 per night per month is what, about $3750 per month, per individual, upon average?
Hmm…one may wonder how many individuals that pay actual rent, or mortgage payments, do so taken from their actual income that they work for, is anywhere close to that amount?
And, of course, said individuals must pay for services such as those brought up by CBMTTek within their shared (rent) or personal (home ownership) property taxes.
Now, obviously, at least not yet, these funding principles are not paid unto the homeless themselves, so whom does the largess go to?
Obviously, as well, it goes unto the landlords, read slumlords, and the grifting politicians that benefit financially as well from their own, ahem, directional well-being, of which there is nothing of the sort.
The ‘politician’, read Zaletel, et. al. benefits financially from said directional well-being, whilst the recipient of said directional well-being receives many, many benefits, but none of them self-earned, rather taken from others instead of being earned through individual acquiesce.
And so, a three-tier system emerges. The three tier system of Communism.
Tier one are the ‘homeless’ that receive benefits without recompensing any form of payment that establishes their benefits.
Tier two are the actual payers of said benefits unto the ‘homeless’, whose income is taken away from them, without objection or recourse, to pay for said ‘homeless’ benefits.
Tier three are the actual monetary beneficiaries of said benefits, the politicians and administrators that profit immensely from tiers one and two, and yet do NOTHING to actually change the outcome of Tier one, or the monetary management of Tier two.
They are in it only for themselves, and their personal income, as they always shall be.
The greedy, power mongering, ruthless individuals that they are.
Your reward for taking care of the homeless is more of them.
You get what you vote for, Fools , This vindicates Mr Bronson in my view, Lafrance will break the bank.
If I was Henning, I would sue for:
1-Begich’s rooms
2-the higher rate
3-both.
The Chelsea Hotel? Was a certain sex act occurring on the unmade bed like Leonard Cohen sung about? What’s even funnier than that? I’ve seen Craigslist ads from the owner attempting to rent out rooms in the neighborhood of $1,100 a month. In the immortal words of Frank Zappa, “is that guy kidding or what?”
I assume you mentioned crime in Spenard for the benefit of anyone who wasn’t around in the 70s and 80s. Anyone who was around and saw real crime regularly would find it laughable. The Chelsea used to house Faith Baptist Church. Parishioners dodging prostitutes on the way out of church was a weekly event.
Giving away the people’s money. Liberals feel good. Marxists love inflicting financial harm on hard working taxpayers. This is what drives the crazies. Think like a backwards leader, and you will be driven…….backwards.
Anchorage is going to get very expensive to live in. Watch out in the valley because they are attempting to force this crap down your throats without you realizing it. Get involved in the borough assembly meeting, the city council meetings, and school board meetings for starters and watch how little the public’s opinion is listened to when these boards make their decisions. It is shocking.
Do the hotel rooms include cable, Netflix, room service, and a fruit basket with wine or spirits? Even the illegals get those minimums.
Beam me up, er, ….sign me up, Scottie.
I feel like checking into the Taxbroke Hotel too.
I don’t understand what all the griping is all about. After all, each one of these Assembly members who approved this added spending were elected to office by the fine people of Los Anchorage.
These people aren’t “homeless”. They fit in one or more categories:
They are drug users.
They are bums.
They are criminals.
They are mentally ill.
Paying millions only increases the number of bums on the street. What a waste of money. Insane Demcorats. They want Acnhorage to be a shxxhole like Portland.
You forgot Bush communities that don’t want their criminals so they give them to Anchorage.
Oh yeah they all need a place to relax and enjoy the winter in a nice plush hotel room with a bottle and their drug of choice.
All their friends and relatives from the village they were banished from for being a menace to the rest of the family can have a free place to party on the taxpayers dime.
Why solve the problem if you can make money from it?
this is awesome
When it comes to the mental illness and substance abusers in Anchorage this quote comes to mind, “If you build it, they will come”.
BIG money in dealing with homeless apparently!
Maybe one should invest in run down hotels/motels in Anchorage, might beat the stock market!!
And weren’t many of these hotels bought and remodeled with COVID MONEY?
$125 X 30 days = $3,750 Nov. 25 – April 15, 141 days x $125 = $17,625.
Another free hand out coming from working peoples pockets.
It will never stop , a sales tax will only provide more free money for the homeless & give big business a tax break at the cost to homeowners.
Time for a change of the ASSembly……………
Where are Ciri, Doyon, Bristol Bay corporations in all of this? The majority of the homeless are outcasts from villages. With the corporations wealth shouldn’t they be helping.
I have not much to add to what has already been said. As long as it is possible to use the vagrants as a way to make money, especially for the politically-connected, the situation will continue. Roughly speaking, that means forever. Bronson had it right: The Left has created the homeless-industrial complex.
That money could be better spent on building out two to three more police stations to give APD a better foot print in Anchorage and to streamline 9-1-1 services. It makes no sense for a dispatcher to have to physically make a phone call to get AFD or paramedics to dispatch. Needs to be done centrally with the literal push of a button like other large cities.
Would definitely be good for Eagle River to have access to services more often…but we aren’t important.
This is nothing less than colluding to defraud the taxpayers by the cabal of political operatives that have been stealing from the public for decades under the guise of helping homeless people. Begich put a new roof on his downtown property, and built a new bar in and remodeled that property, after sucking up millions from the assembly. The US Marshalls office should be stepping in here for violations of federal RICO laws.
The assembly pockets are getting full.
$125/night x 135 rooms =$16,875/ night. NOW… Nov. 25 – April 15, 141 days x $16,875 = $2,379,375. Another HUGE free hand out coming out of working people’s pockets. It will never stop as this is communist Assembly members enriching other liberal democrat (communist) businessmen at the expense of the responsible few. Additional taxes will only perpetuate this issue. The only right answer is to change the leadership. Anchorage, you should have known better. After the Assembly hamstringing the only real decent mayor we have seen in recent history, what did you expect. The “change” you wanted is the “change” you got. Now we are all yet again stuck with it.
The libs of Anchorage who don’t pay property taxes or have any real vested interest in Alaska are the ones voting for these mentally ill degeneates on the assembly. With these marxist lunatics in control of mine and your money, Anchorage has no future.
This is win/win/win.
* The homeless win, getting really nice lodging, including private bathrooms, housekeeping, and tv
* The overbuilt Anchorage lodging industry wins, keeping an income flow during the winter when they can’t rape the tourists with $300 night motel bills, then kicking the bums out in the spring for them to live in tents again in warmer weather to drink around the campfires (some of which will grow into wildfires)
* The Anchorage taxpayer wins, paying about the same amount as previous years to compassionately house bums, but still able to enjoy overpriced consumer shows in their sports arena
I think this is your future, Anchorage. With few hotels/motels in the Valley, we just can’t offer such amenities.
Thanks for that win………..
What the heck?! laying things “on the table” at the last minute should not be allowed. The assembly members who voted for this have a lot of nerve when so many are having a hard time getting by. Bronson’s plan would have helped people find solutions. Nick Begich II and Dave Cuddy also had a good plan that would have helped people address their root issues but the assembly would have none of it. We need a local D.O.G.E.