The Municipality of Anchorage has accepted help from the Salvation Army to provide services at Centennial Campground, where about 200 people who are currently homeless are living in established campsites, complete with running water, toilets, garbage services, security, and municipal staff helping solve problems as they arise.
A small number of those living at Centennial Campground were previously housed in the Sullivan Arena, which had been commandeered by former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, who converted it into a congregate shelter that was to assist with physical distancing in the nonprofit shelters, when Covid was raging through the state.
Salvation Army will be providing on-site client care coordination. Over the next couple of days, the Salvation Army will begin working with other nonprofits to coordinate the many services being offered there, such as meals, case management, donations, supplies, and more. Anchorage Parks and Recreation will continue to provide security and a team of on-site staff to ensure coordination with the municipality.
Several leftist members of the Anchorage Assembly have called the conditions at the campground a “humanitarian crisis.” They have blamed the Bronson Administration for what they say is an all-time high number of people living on the streets.
The Bronson Administration differed in its views of the situation: “As someone who has visited Centennial almost every day since the Sullivan closed, the tremendous improvements over other unsanctioned sites in Anchorage are obvious. I truly believe we are at our best when we set aside politics and work together, and I’m grateful for the many stakeholders who share that vision,” Bronson said.
About 60 of the people at Centennial Campground came from the Sullivan Arena, which closed as an overnight mass shelter on July 1. The remainder came from camp sites tucked around in fire-prone areas around the wooded areas in Anchorage. The illegal campers in the greenbelts and forests were all given other options, such as the Aviator Hotel, Gospel Rescue Mission, and other shelters, but they all chose to go to the Centennial Campground, rather than traditional shelters, officials said.
Assembly members Kameron Perez-Verdia, Felix Rivera and Daniel Volland have proposed even more expenditures than the tens of millions already spent by the Assembly on failed projects like the Golden Lion Hotel, which the Assembly helped former Mayor Berkowitz buy, to be used as a drug rehabilitation center. That controversial purchase put children at a daycare at the nearby Lubavitch Jewish Center in danger.
The new proposed Assembly expenditures include $20 million for these items:
1) $500K to remodel and immediately open up 60 rental units
2) $2M to fund emergency shelter needs through the end of 2022
3) $1.5M for outreach services
4) $3.4M to complete capital funding for the Guest House opening up 130 units
5) $12.6M for purchase of another hotel to open up to 120 units.
According to Assembly Member Kameron Perez-Verdia, “Our plan to address to the current crisis is informed by years of community work to develop a comprehensive approach to address homelessness, known as the Anchored Home plan. Our proposal leverages public-private partnerships to address the immediate crisis and build for the future so we don’t end up in this untenable situation again.”
Must Read Alaska flew a drone camera through the campground to ground-truth the claims of a “humanitarian crisis” and provide this picture of what the campground looked like on Monday:
