The Anchorage Assembly and Mayor Suzanne LaFrance this week awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to Catholic Social Services to run the 200-cot mass homeless shelter on 56th Ave., situated in a building that once housed the some of the city’s Solid Waste Services functions. Mass shelter was moved to that location after former Mayor Dave Bronson returned the Sullivan Arena to its intended use as an event venue.
Henning, which had the contract to run the mass shelter, fell out of favor after some out-of-context text messages between Henning personnel and Bronson’s homeless coordinator were leaked to the Assembly and were seen as inappropriate, putting yet another knife into the effort by former Mayor Dave Bronson to reduce homelessness across the city. Henning did not submit a new bid for this year after the Assembly took a harsh stance toward it and members said it should not get another award.
As of Sunday, Oct. 12, the contract for that “low-barrier” shelter, where some of the most dangerous and difficult of the homeless can stay, will switch to the new management of Catholic Social Services, which already runs another low-barrier shelter, Brother Francis, as well as a network of safety-net programs, including a food pantry, refugee resettlement and assistance, Clare House shelter for women and children, and a homeless navigation center, where people can get referrals for various services.
Nighttime temperatures in Anchorage have dropped into the 30s, and next week will be in the low 20s, and the winter weather will only get colder, posing grave danger to those who are living in the rough.
The 56th Ave. shelter award is worth around $3.6 million for Catholic Social Service, which will have the contract through winter until April. That pencils out to about $18,000 per homeless person sleeping there this winter, rather than being in a tent or otherwise exposed to the elements in parks, greenbelts, on sidewalks and in doorways of Anchorage businesses. The people staying in the low-barrier shelters are not screened for drug and alcohol use or criminal background; many of them do poorly with structured situations and rules.
Henning was started after the March 2019 death of 25-year-old Shannon Henning, who died after being struck by a vehicle while she was trying to cross Third Ave. in Anchorage. Henning was chronically homeless and suffered from mental health problems and substance abuse. Henning Inc. was founded by Shawn Hays in 2020 to tackle chronic homelessness.
But because Henning had the support of former Mayor Bronson, the Assembly took an oppositional stance, and when the text messages between the city official and a Henning employee were leaked to the Assembly, some were horrified that staff were apparently joking about using cigarettes or bus passes to incentivize homeless clients to go vote. Assemblyman Daniel Volland expressed his opinion that Henning should never again be awarded a contract.
In addition, Henning upset the existing regime of the homeless industrial complex. The Anchorage Coalition to End Homeless is run by Anchorage Assembly Vice Chair Meg Zaletel and that consortium already has its planetary system of nonprofits that work in the homelessness field. Henning was a newcomer and had cut into the business and grant-based income of the existing nonprofits competing for government contracts. It was largely shunned by the coalition as a usurper.
Henning still runs the supportive housing shelter at the former Golden Lion hotel on 36th Ave. That contract last year passed on a 10-1 vote, with Assemblywoman Zaletel the only “no” vote.
If Henning faced local political storms, Catholic Charities has troubles that stretch all the way to Congress. Catholic Charities USA and its partners and subsidiary groups receive tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer dollars and use some of it to assist illegal immigrants get from the border to cities and towns across the country.
In Texas, that has been controversial. Catholic Charities of San Antonio was accused by lawmakers of using FEMA funds to transport illegals via commercial air carriers, while Catholic Charities argues that it’s within FEMA’s rules associated with the federal agency’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program.
“Accusations that the Church is betraying the United States, violating its tax-exempt status, or seeking new members through its ministries serving newcomers are nothing new,” says a statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Anti-Catholic bias, political motivations, and misinformation have long undergirded these claims. Assisting newcomers, however, is one of the corporal works of mercy and integral to Catholic identity.”
CSS is one of the primary entities that has been human trafficking illegal aliens nationwide.
CSS does what it is paid to do. It is not paid to determine if people are here illegally, only to make sure none of them dies while they are here. At no time had CSS “sheltered” illegals from deportation or ignored court orders of detention. The issue is not with humanitarian aid, it is with law enforcement or the lack thereof. CSS is not ICE nor the cops. But hey, don’t give up that anti-Catholic bias because it serves you so well.
That is just what I was thinking also! So, all those beds will be given to the illegals and the homeless will really be homeless!
This.
How many children have you caused to be used, abused and tossed “Catholic” Social Services?
Recall Christ saying in Luke 17:2 >
“It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”
“………That pencils out to about $18,000 per homeless person sleeping there this winter………”
This is the price of a 1-2 bedroom rental unit in Anchorage Craigslist for a year. Too bad these homeless folks could never withstand the vetting of a private housing landlord, which is why the government has to house them, collect (take) their garbage, provide sanitation, feed them, etc. So, in short, local governments are footing the bill and responsibility of the mentally ill, the substance abusers, and criminals because the state and federal governments have dumped the burden on them with such “reform” as the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980, Hope VI, and resistance to involuntary substance abuse treatment. This is a refusal to re-institute institutional care for those resisting individual and social responsibility.
$18K per person per year was roughly the cost to shelter someone at Brother Francis Shelter year-round until the pandemic changed the rules. That’s still far cheaper than incarceration or institutionalization. It’s also more expensive than a Housing First approach before you tack on an entire payroll of “support” personnel. The real question is whether you value a structure, other piece of real estate or a job more than the fate of a human life. Once again, we’re not acknowledging that there are entities in Anchorage who are actively rehabilitating people every single day.
I do not care if it is $18 a year per person.
Why are the taxpayers paying for it in any way?
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When the city has perfectly maintained streets, the fire stations are all open and fully staffed, the libraries are not in danger of closing, and parks are all clean and safe, then, and ONLY then should taxpayer dollars be handed out to freeloaders.
And the contract is only until April so that is $3,000 per month per homeless. Many people live in housing for less than that each month!
All of a sudden the militant anti theist crowd goes silent!!! Its fine when money is being shoveled to the pets of the Left. All those ” separation of church and state”concerns no longer matter
As long as people keep giving bums free money, free food, free clothing, free place to sleep, free medical care…free everything, they’ll never leave.Why? Because they enjoy a life of being a bum.
Just STOP giving them a free ride.
Exactly my point.
The Assembly never seems to have enough money for road maintenance, libraries, schools, or police/fire, but the homeless? Never seems to be a problem finding cash for them.
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And, where does the cash for the freeloaders come from? The taxpayers.
Which of God’s children do you want to suffer? Just the ones who have lost hope? Put down your stone.
Those of God’s children that choose to do nothing, deserve nothing.
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And, there is a HUGE difference between an individual choosing to donate to a charity, or donate their time to a cause, and the government taking money from you against your will and using it for something you do not support.
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It is the duty of an individual to assist those who need it. Not the duty of a government to take from those that have, and give to those that do nothing.
This is a huge step in the right direction. Although I despise the assembly and don’t trust them farther than I can spit.
How so? Looks to me like Anchorage is going back to the Berkowitz days, where people are warehoused indefinitely by entities who are given no incentive to return them to normal society. If anything, they act punitively towards those who express such goals. You should read the part about Henning’s struggle more carefully. In 2019, I collaborated with many people who were working on programs to give the homeless the tools they need to transition off the street and be self-sufficient. They couldn’t get in the door because every municipal RFP was structured to ensure that only Bean’s, CSS or RurAL CAP would get any contracts.
I’ve grown so tired of the Assembly giving my hard earned property tax dollars to people who don’t wish to clean up and be self-reliant. Doing the same thing year after year is INSANITY!
You, and everyone who agrees with you need to show up at the assembly meetings and tell them to spend taxpayer dollars on goods and services for the taxpayers first. Schools, libraries, roads, police/fire. When those are all fully funded, and only when they are all fully funded, should a single penny be spend on luxuries for the freeloaders.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) introduced a bill to cut off federal funding for nongovernmental organizations that assist illegal immigrants.
The bill, titled the Blocking Assistance and Resources to Restrict Illegal Entry and Residency Act, would cut off “federal financial assistance for entities that aid or facilitate illegal immigration.
Anchorage Assembly Vice Chair Meg Zaletel is up to her eyeballs and beyond in all the homeless $$ and has been on for long while. Nice to have the fox inside the hen house
Nonprofits Are Making Billions off the Border Crisis
Catholic Charities argues that it’s within FEMA’s rules You bet they live by the rules
Catholic Social Service
Where does the money go? Between Fiscal Year 2021 and Fiscal Year 2024:
$1.13 billion went to chapters of Catholic Charities
The Catholic services et all are NGOs on the take is pretty clear in my opinion
This is a $$$ merry go-round just running money out the door every day.
NGOs want OPEN Borders for as long as possible
These NGOs are working at full strength in interior Mexico and other Central America locales pushing illegals north toward the border. Every person is $$ to the NGOs
Stop coddling the irresponsible. Which seems to include the assembly. We must provide shelter to those people who are mentally ill and incompetent. Schizophrenics and severe bipolar episodes. This should be in a state facility that is clean, warm and safe. We owe nothing to drunks and junkies. A great many of these bums are banished from their hometowns. If the rural communities can legally ban people, we are also entitled to the same provision of public safety and freedom of the tax burden that comes with accommodating these unaccountable individuals. In patient drug and alcohol treatment? Sure, in fact two chances. The third strike is charged to them and never again.
Why do you think the banished became who they are today? We’re they molested at a child, abused, hungry, was any of that brought on from western expansion? Maybe if the mukluk was on the other foot, or you were set adrift on an ice flow, you would know these answers.
What makes you think anyone cares in any way how they ended up banished? They have demonstrated they are not responsible, law abiding, or willing to change their ways. The village did not banish them after their first offense. The village tried to rehabilitate these individuals, and they refused to change.
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So… Why should anyone care about these people, when they do not care about themselves? If their live does not matter to them, it will not matter to anyone else.
Still, we need to try to turn off the spigot.
Agree totally.
The more taxpayer money we provide the freeloaders, the more freeloaders we get.
It appears that Catholic Social Services has become a preferred NGO of the establishment. Very lucrative non profit!
$3.6 million. ?????? WTF. Looks like homeless is a business for someone’s picket
Then the city sells the shelter to the port of Anchorage and it was intentionally for the homeless but assembly didn’t allocate shipping funds to get it here from a shipping center in Canada for over 2 and a half years.
Now it’s costing us more money what crap
“In addition, Henning upset the existing regime of the homeless industrial complex.”. Truer words were never written.
On one side of the coin, arguably, is providing free stuff and life-style support to the “homeless”. On the other side of the coin is the continuous receipt of millions of dollars, expanding influence and control, and, of course, maintaining power.
Happy days are here again.
Public service announcement – Dear MAGA, if you dropped off your child as a boy and picked up your child as a girl, please return her back to school. You picked up the wrong child. Thank you.
WTF does that have to do with the homeless?
“Assisting newcomers, however, is one of the corporal works of mercy and integral to Catholic identity“
Might I suggest a re-examination of the Principal of Subsidiarity, the definition of Charity, and the seemingly-outdated notion that “works of mercy” SHOULD NOT be tied to multi-million dollar city, state, or federal contracts?
Take a look at Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission and The Hope Center, and compare them to actual work being accomplished by CSS -and I don’t mean clean bed sheets and socks that are handed out, I mean real, Christ-centered change in the lives of persons struggling to extricate themselves from cycles of abuse, homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction.
In comparison, CSS might look like a shell game, whose true goals and operations are not dissimilar to the Communists on the Assembly.
Why? Because they are Catholic and not “Christ-centered?” Whatever gave you that notion? Where do you suppose Christ started His Church? The bigotry here is something else.
Peter’s early church is not the same as today. Not even the power hungry, fear mongering, controlling of the masses as the 300 AD church that put together the new testament, while omitting various threatening books of the Bible that used to be cannon.
So Zaletel isn’t going to make any $ off this? Tell me it isn’t so?
People don’t pay tithe the way they used to so the churches and synagogues make billions on invaders and degenerates.
Yeah, fear used to cause folks to pay to stay out of hell. You needed a middleman because a personal relationship with God was unattainable.
Stand by Alaska for a major influx of third world illegal aliens.
Yep, Peltola’s wishes will be fulfilled!
The first Alaskans are kind of used to it.
They are not used to what the imported refugees are going to bring. No way.
Perhaps it’s time for all those big native corporations whose heads all live in $1million houses, take some of that money and build shelters for their homeless people. They have the money, they have the land, they own half the construction and supporting companies in Alaska. They also kick many of these homeless out of the villages. Before anyone gets their panties twisted, this isn’t just a native issue, there are others, but the majority are native. Waterfront bungalows along the new eklutna river? Fish for food?
Why are we spending any money on homeless at all?
Didn’t this administration, which ran on the claim the Bronson admin was incompetent because the snow clearing was not perfect, just say they will not have enough money to keep the roads clear of snow? But, they have millions to spend on freeloaders?
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Why is anyone tolerating this in any way?
A huge NGO in operation here and in every state. Funded by our $$$ and used to add every name to a voting record. Why do you think Democrats love them so much? They are not citizens. Not qualified to vote. OMEGA4AMERICA, by Jay Valentine plus a group of business people, use quantum technology to stop the ballots b4 they go out to addresses without a bedroom. This is all new the last 3 years.
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