New documentary reveals the vagrant problem in Anchorage is here to stay

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A new documentary by Jeff Landfield and Scott Jensen of the Alaska Landmine shows the underbelly of Anchorage in all its wasted glory. Landfield takes viewers through the encampments around Alaska’s largest city on foot and by drone, going into places where many citizens would not feel safe treading.

It’s the third documentary on the topic he had done in five years. In those years, the problem has only gotten worse.

The hobo encampments have spread from the greenbelts and parks to encampments on streets and sidewalks. Since his latest documentary, released in late August, Landfield says he has been contacted by Anchorage business owners who say they’re dealing with vagrants’ vandalism at their businesses, with everything from broken windows to abandoned items.

But the big message from the permanent campers featured in the video is that they want to live that way. They don’t want to be in shelters. These are people who can’t easily be housed because they are dealing with serious mental illness, drug or alcohol addiction, or a strong need to be outside of society in general.

Over 22,000 people have now viewed the video on YouTube, and more on Facebook and Twitter, Landfield said.

Watch the video at here:

As fall closes in on Alaska, the temperatures will drop and Anchorage will again open mass shelters and use taxpayer money to pay for hotel rooms for those who can’t camp all winter in the outdoors.

Although the filmmaker offers no solutions for the problem that plagues Anchorage and other major cities, recent rulings at the U.S. Supreme Court now give local communities more authority to deal with the growing problem of vagrancy — if they have the political will to do so.

69 COMMENTS

  1. Vagrants create strong public sector unions. Strong public sector unions create weak societies. Weak societies create vagrants. The circle of life.

  2. You give naturally lazy people all the food they want, all the free medical care they need, all the clothing they need, all the shelter they need, and socialists droids give them money when the beg for it at stoplights, socialist blackrobes running kangaroo courts kick them out for the “crime” of shoplifting junk food instead of actually incarcerating them like they should…..what do you expect naturally lazy people to do? They go where they can get a free ride: Anchorage.

    • “……..They go where they can get a free ride: Anchorage.”
      Uhmmmmmm……..have you been paying attention to events in the Lower 48? Britain? Germany? France? This is happening throughout the western world. Call it “globalization”……….

    • Jeanette, 100%.
      We are encouraging this behavior with our policies and we are not enforcing the laws, that were developed to deal with this problem during/after the Great Depression, Hoover Towns, etc.
      All the policies we’ve tried, including Bronson have FAILED everywhere every single time.
      It’s time for Zero Tolerance in regards to public intoxication, loitering, vagrancy, trespassing, shoplifting, and pan handling, etc.
      Mayor Guilianiani adopted this approach when he was mayor of NYC and cleaned the human cess pool up in 6 months.
      Bronson, you missed your opportunity – although you were dealing with hard core Marxist and Maoists on the city council.

      • Bronson did not miss HIS opportunity, the socialist-Marxist-communists that make up the assembly STOLE his opportunity by fighting him at literally every single turn. Candidly, the voters that elected him to office were the problem because after he was elected, the necessary ongoing support which would have been evidenced by a conservative shift on the make up of the assembly never materialized. Yet again, the quiet majority only spoke up enough to begin the change, not finish it. Hopefully, looking at the way that Conservatives have learned the rules of RCV this time by literally mirroring the dems – run one candidate – maybe we can finish the job the job in the future. – Cheers

      • Bronson did not “MISS” at all.
        He was handicapped by the libtard Assembly.
        He tired and tired to present solutions.

        He pushed and pushed to get the Sully back to ice hockey and eliminate the den of iniquities.

        The Sullivan Arena mass shelter literally wrecked that community for SEVERAL YEARS and it will take many years to fully recover that area.

      • When the Assembly is being gifted money, they won’t change the system, Bronson tried, but was CUT down everytime he tried. Bronson didn’t miss his opportunity. The Assembly killed everything he tried to do.

  3. If they want to live that way carve out a chunk on land put them on it and tell them to live here.
    We taxpayers could save money as the motor and assembly want new tax revenue to spend.
    We don’t need millions of dollars to go to people who want to live this way.

    • I’d suggest they go carve out their own piece of land just as everybody else does every day. The day we stop, is the day we join them.

  4. Thank you Jeff Landfield- this us important work— keep it up! The more views, the more pressure on mayor and assembly to exercise their political will to take back tax payer funded trails and parks.

    There is no lack of compassion from most of Anchorage’s citizens and certainly no lack of services. Simply a lack of political will to enforce existing law. Keep the documentaries coming, Jeff! Nice work.

    • Yes, thank you Jeff, the only way we will ever get the assembly to do anything is to shame them in to it. By showing them how badly they are hurting these people that they are leaving on the streets. Tough love, forcing them to receive the medical attention they desperately need, or arresting them for the crimes they are committing in the long run is saving them from their own destruction.

      • The only way to get the Assembly to do something is replace the Assembly no amount of shaming will do anything to a bunch of Marxist and imbeciles.

  5. “……..But the big message from the permanent campers featured in the video is that they want to live that way……….”
    This is part of the solution. Simply keep them there, and provide them with food, water, and tents. Society refuses to build modern prisons, so go back to the prison camp model.

    • Terezín, the ghetto-camp was a propaganda tool to hide what they were really doing ? Termination…… Reggie, are you suggesting this because it worked for awhile !
      Leadership from both sides on this issue is non existent, whereas throwing more money at it is their solution! Like Public Education. One side believes everybody means everybodies & that’s not the case, look up the meanings to both words meanings….

      Jack pretends that this problem is everybody’s business. But it’s not!
      Everybody’s changing all the time. It’s only natural.

      Ask yourselves which meaning do you agree with?

  6. It’s a quick fix… Just keep raising property taxes until everyone who can escape ANC leaves… Then house the homeless in the empty buildings… Simple as that… +++

  7. This is an excellent view of the Anchorage decline caused directly by the likes of Chris Constant and this Assembly. We get what we vote for.

  8. There is no physical solution to a spiritual problem. Demonic possession and oppression is real. You can’t fix this with shelters and social work. This requires the church to start doing what they were called to do. Preach the truth of the gospel to all of creation, heal the sick and cast out demons. The church needs to get out of their building and get out on the streets! Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom and these homeless camps are slavery, bondage and death! Time to Rise Saints!

  9. Wow. Good job Mr. Landfield. Very enlightening and so tragic. Definitely seems mental illness and addiction are common cause. Likely most have backgrounds in broken homes, abuse, generational addiction and mental illness. A person has to want to change, be willing to receive help, and do the exhausting work to move forward and recover to a functional level. Few are equipped with a strong enough desire for that, hence the problem continues to increase, as dysfunctional issues have been growing across our culture for years.

  10. Yet the voters in anchorage have AFFIRMED the assembly by re-electing all the same jokesters. They certainly don’t show a political will to deal with it. The likes of LaFrance, Constant, Zalatel, and Rivera all know exactly what their voters desire: more of the same! The citizens have asked for it and their elected reps have handed them this absolute squalor on a silver platter! Go Team!

    • With 100% mail in voting, machine counting, and Assembly imposed restriction on observing the ballot, I have no idea who I voted for. I know what marks I put on the ballot, but whether those marks are accurately counted, I can’t say.

  11. Do gooders need to learn the difference between enabling and actual helping, tough love is required. As long as the homeless want to remain homeless there will be no solution

  12. One of the producers has always bothered me but I will watch the video carefully and perhaps several times.

    The encampment between the JBER Boniface gate and Mountain View defies description. Why does the media ignore it? The Assembly?

    I generally agree with the notion that the homeless situation in Anchorage will NEVER improve. Anchorage has warmer weather, more drugs and more people handing out free stuff. It is a permanent problem. Another great victory for Chris Constant progressivism.

    • You must have that statement saved on your Atari so you can whip it out often w/out taxing yourself too much.

      Here’s a useful perspective as opposed to your consistent dreck:

      Several states have ‘settled’ legal suits with the larger offenders in the opiod epidemic.

      $5BB Johnson & Johnson
      $21BB AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson
      …and more.

      These companies have been allowed to profit while introducing to society a catastrophic failure of long term immense consequence. Don’t settle with them, make them responsible for the dystopia they have introduced. Is it wrong to hold a company and its shareholders accountable in a way that does more than impact their single year annual profits? Until companies (and politicians) are held personally accountable for the havoc their choices create the populace will be saddled w/ the expense of cleaning up after them while at the same time those companies and politicians move on to introduce yet another disaster in the name of personal enrichment.

      • And your attempts to insult me are as vapid as you are.

        While there is truth in your links, it, like you, ignores the bigger issue. Places not overrun with liberal politicians don’t have this kind of problem.

        Anchorage has the problem with homelessness drug addicts because Anchorage is too lazy to bother to vote. The few who do vote hard left, and have actively worked to create this situation.

        I know people like you get butthurt when confronted with this reality. But it is reality.

        This is a self inflicted wound by lazy voters.

        • Butthurt? Not so much, child. None of us come here for vacuous posts and you type the same trash w/ monotonous regularity. Put some effort into your responses and you won’t have to defend your drivel.

          You may also note that you’re incorrect again. Using highest office as a benchmark:

          The average voter turnout nationally in 2022 was 46.76%

          The average voter turnout in Alaska for same was 50.78%

          You are the reason this site needs an ignore feature.

    • I do not think I voted for it.
      But, with 100% mail in voting, machine counting, and Assembly imposed restrictions on ballot count observers, I frankly have no idea whether my ballot was counted the way I cast it.

  13. Thank you, Suzanne Downing, for two great articles.
    1. New documentary reveals the vagrant problem in Anchorage is here to stay
    2. Anchorage school enrollment falls, but at least one city leader is in denial about population collapse

    From reading both these articles we can see how our deteriorating city has led to the loss of population. I would love to know how many businesses have closed, during covid, or from population reduction or from Anchorage being such an undesirable place to shop or spend time in. Sadly, our schools, our neighborhoods, our city, all are nothing to be proud of anymore. I, like most of the people I know, do not shop or spend a dime in Anchorage. Amazon and the valley are much more pleasant options.
    Do you notice that No one cares? No one votes, which is why we have the Marxist assembly and Mayor. Sadly our once great city is destined to die.

  14. There has always been a segment of society that is anti-social, lazy and indigent. You cannot push a rope. On the other hand, you can make life difficult enough for them to make them want to change. There is no excuse for not prosecuting them for stealing, trespassing, harassing people, crapping in public, passing out on streets, and using illegal drugs. There is no will to do so, because members of the Assembly are profiting from the addicts, but there IS a will in the populace who have had to put up with this illegal and obnoxious behavior. Cry all you want about these miscreants, but it won’t fix the problem until we enforce the law and stand up to the corruption.

    • “…….you can make life difficult enough for them to make them want to change……..”
      Their lives are already too difficult for them, and who cares if they change? The goal is to prevent them from causing harm to others. They must be confined to an area that they’re free to destroy. The problem is that eventually they will spawn disease, and the bleeding hearts will force society to clean it up. Therefore, there must be two such areas; one for them to destroy, and the other to be cleaned out and decontaminated for their return as soon as disease threatens in the area they’re in. Repeat……..forever. That’s just the price of society.

    • I went to the symphony’s fund raiser at the PAC last night. Just shy of $140k was raised from a few tables of attendees in about 30 minutes and just on the other side of the wall were a large array of drunks, drug addicts and the recreationally homeless. The contrast was stunning and that societal detritus should be allowed to be such a scourge on the city is shameful. It is the cretins on the Anchorage Assembly that shoulder the blame for coddling bums and I’d be the first to say that we need better choices however, it appears we may need a better electorate, too. I suppose it’s occurred to all that each of those roaches can vote and the more of them appear the less likely it will be that a conservative Assembly will ever reappear.

      And Mr. Taylor, you are incorrect. They need one area away from society and access to free fentanyl and margaritas in February. Sort of like Portland and Seattle but with an edge. No free housing, either. My property tax money is to be used for something positive.

  15. You know this quote, “if you build it they will come”. We’ll, Anchorage built a system to support the substance abusers and the mentally ill, other wise known as the democrats base.

  16. I have a difficult time having an ounce of sympathy for 90% of these people. If they used their ingenuity and resourcefulness for positive outcomes such as working gainful employment, they sky is the limit for them, but they don’t want to. The one guy who said he has a job and is working to get off the street, he might be worth investing in. Anchorage has spent somewhere int he the range of $300 million of tax payer money with nothing to show for it. Civic leadership has failed at their basic responsibilities. Let me say that again, civic leadership has failed at their basic responsibilities.

    • “……..Anchorage has spent somewhere int he the range of $300 million of tax payer money with nothing to show for it………”
      Queries regularly cite that there are @3000 homeless individuals in Anchorage, including the “unsheltered” (because we actually have “classes” of homelessness now). $300 million for 3000 individuals equals $100,000 apiece.
      These folks are incredibly expensive……….

      • The nonprofit sector distributed talking points in 2019 as a response to Dunleavy’s budget proposal that year. According to those talking points, keeping someone in a shelter such as BFS long-term was desirable, because the per-person cost was about $18K per year, as opposed to about $55K per year for DOC custody and nearly $400K per year for in-patient mental health treatment. Of course, the pandemic quickly made those figures obsolete, but you get the point. There’s also savings realized through creating resources to divert people away from unnecessary use of emergency services. People are quick to cast blame when it comes to this issue. I saw a community which caved in on continuing the dialogue of making the problem less expensive and escaped any blame for such actions.

    • All of these politicians – on both sides of the aisle – are UniParty scumbags.
      The only politicians I believe anymore are the ones the political establishment detest – and the MSM hates.

  17. Viva LaFrance congratulations Lisa Lets go Mary rank choice voting has almost completed it mission once dem decide on the next Governor, I bet the clown is from San Francisco & wins by 168 votes I can’t wait to see what happens to all these oath breakers once we all are back in on spirit bodies to see how we all did together with JESUS. Shameless clowns who mock GOD soon we pay up

  18. A few things I noticed – several were smoking, many had tattoos, many were drinking. All of these cost more than I can afford myself. I’m always blown away by inked, smokers and drinkers are asking for handouts.

  19. This first started by a few of us, and then to the many we are today. We are called homelessak.org. We are not homeless, however we are trying to help the homeless. We are also going to lift the vail on the corruption that is rampant within the muni, state and other locations throughout the state. People are dying of overdose, sexually assaulted and the list goes on while our police have their hands tied by govt officials. We are digging up more corruption, and will soon start releasing it to the public. In the meantime, enjoy our official music video. Feel free to share with others. ‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yhOR86S3j8

  20. Remember, Peltola wants illegals to come to Alaska. If she gets her way, Alaska will look like Los Anchorage is looking these days.

  21. I’m one for compassion, but if these people have no desire to develop productive lives, I look to the scriptures, ” If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10). On the top of Kootenay Pass in southeastern British Columbia (Canada) there is a park. As my family was sitting down having a picnic there, I couldn’t help but notice a sign that stated, “Please don’t feed the animals, they will become dependent on you.” These are wise words for the people of Anchorage. When you see vagrants standing on islands at traffic intersections with signs “please help, God bless,” DON’T GIVE THEM A DIME. Maybe the most loving thing you can say to them is, “Fred Meyers is hiring.” (Or something to that effect.) We have to stop treating homelessness as a virtue, but as the problem it is. Anchorage needs to become the most unhospitable place for those who want to sponge off others and the most hospitable place for those who want an opportunity… and our present assembly is never going to allow that to happen.

  22. Just wait until CSS brings in Haitians! No more pets outside and no more wildlife. And just remember: your tax money funds these things. Our government hates its own citizens and rewards the lazy and the the illegal.

  23. So, government is pandering to those people who choose to live on the streets, robbing, defecating on sidewalks, using drugs etc. while we working taxpayers foot the bill AND have to stay away from Anchorage for our own safety!THIS JUST SUCKS!!!!

  24. i keep saying it and nobody seems to get it: they don’t want help! lead them out into the woods by gunpoint and tell them to go be homeless elsewhere. they have no interest in participating in society only leaching off of us.

  25. Put the homeless on Fire Island. All of them. Let them figure out how to survive in minus digits.
    Anchorage is a hovel just like Seattle and Portland. Newsflash. If this wasn’t tolerated, and we let the ones who insist on living outside die, the message would be crystal clear that IT IS NOT TOLERATED in society.
    If they wanted help. They would have gotten it by now. Anyone living that way likes it or it would CHANGE.

    • “If this wasn’t tolerated,” says Daisy who refuses to vote in elections. You should not have a voice in these matters because you will not go vote. No vote? No say.

  26. Chris Constant is in constant pursuit of public assistance for everyone. He won’t be satisfied until we are all on it.

  27. The Marxist need these “Victims” to create their revolutionary movement to further push the Agenda. They do not want to fix it! Demoralization of the people is needed to continue the Socialist push. LaFrance will do noting to actually get rid of this. Those addicted and mentally ill need to be PLACED in treatment. Most are a threat to themselves and others. When have the Tax payers in Anchorage Paid enough? Never if you ask the Marxist left. So it will only get worse under their so called leadership.

  28. I had other reasons for parting with the Republican Party. However, when I look at Republicans today, I see people who will stand in your way when you’re trying to do something and prevent you from doing it, just so they can call you lazy. We’re in an economy that doesn’t work for everyone. I interpret what I’m reading as a belief that their existence should be about working a dead-end job simply to feed the CIHA and Weidner eviction mills. If not, they’re criminals, even if we’re talking about someone who is not actually engaging in criminal activity. C’mon, let’s be honest here. You’re afraid of calling out the cops and prosecutors who aren’t going after the real criminals.

    The simple fact of the matter is that cities no longer exist to provide the level of economic opportunity they once did, and Anchorage is no exception. We’ve all heard Wally Hickel’s success story. My maternal grandmother’s first cousin, Dr. Lloyd W. Hines, had a similar success story in his decades in Anchorage. Nowadays, we tell people “Those opportunities don’t exist anymore, go apply at Walmart”. Honestly, who wants that? There were many times when I landed in Anchorage in less than ideal financial shape, and was able to get work and get back on my feet in short order. When I came back to Anchorage the last time in 2019, that wasn’t the case. If the game is all about attracting people who are shopping home equity and other wealth generated elsewhere, let’s say so. If it’s about trying to repel people who simply want to get by without eating themselves alive in a predatory economy, let’s say so. To reiterate, there were always opportunities for employment and housing, even if they weren’t entirely desirable, which don’t exist anymore.

    • Walter Hickel? He built houses to start.
      People are still fixing, remodeling & building houses now.
      While Wally was building houses there were people working in retail stores.
      Same now, some people are fixing/building while others work retail.

  29. Interesting how people that don’t want to participate in civil society by choice, then “choose” to live on the streets of the largest metropolitan area in this vast state. The fact that most are there by choice says it all. They need to own their choices. We also have a choice to not tolerate this behavior in our city. The choice requires a will to enforce it. So far, the homeless losers will seems to be stronger than the law abiding, taxpayers citizens. Until that changes, expect more of the same. That includes so called representatives like Constant and LeFrance.

  30. Super, super cool to see that some of the folks are really closely connected to the land and environment AND that they care so deeply about it. It makes me think that more people ought to live this way. I want Mayor LaFrance to get behind that. If she isn’t already.

    • Solutions:

      Apply the law.

      Charge these freeloaders wuth trespass. Littering. Illegal camping. Loitering. Public consumption.

      Then, when they go to court….sentence them to community service where they can clean up homeless camps.

      Apply the law. If they go to jail so be it.

      Tired of our tax dollars going to these kooks whonpay ZERO in taxes yet abuse our resources.

      Apply the law.

  31. Very sad. Thanks to Landfield and Jensen for their good work. Interestingly, the term “Hobo” was coined during the great depression, and is a contraction of the terms “Hoe” and “Boy”. “Hoe Boys” would travel by rail looking for work hoeing weeds in fields. They carried their belongings in sacks or cloths ties to the end of their hoes. At least the original Hoboes had some kind of a work ethic.

  32. Kam Harris and Peltola want more illegals here in the united states and in Alaska. Look what is happening to Springfield, Ohio, if you have not already heard about the flood of illegals there. It is terrifying to think that this is what is going to happen to Alaska.

    ‘Haitian immigrants flooding Springfield, Ohio – butchering ducks in the parks & house pets’

    ‘https://rumble.com/v5egd2l-haitian-immigrants-flooding-springfield-ohio-butchering-ducks-in-the-parks-.html

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