2024
ANNUAL REPORT
TO THE COMMUNITY
Partnership: We need each other
A year with the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness
Our mission is to provide dynamic leadership to unite Anchorage in making homelessness rare, brief and one-time. Our core values are dignity, respect, equity and compassion.
All Alaskans deserve a warm, safe place to call home. If our community commits to housing those most in need as a top priority, we can help our neighbors out of homelessness.
Our greatest success comes through partnership
A message from Executive Director Meg Zaletel
What a dynamic year for Anchorage in addressing homelessness. We strengthened partnerships with the Municipality and nonprofits and enacted a proven approach to bring the focus where it belongs: housing.
Focused engagement at Elderberry Park this summer.
This past year ACEH implemented a rapid rehousing program called Next Step that saw 177 people moving from shelter and the streets into supported housing.
The Next Step collaboration partnered with case management providers, landlords and the Municipality to ensure not only that people were supported, but that encampments were closed. Deep and consistent partnership was the key to success.
As we look forward into the new year, we hope to replicate those partnerships and successes. Let’s continue to build momentum in our community to keep supported housing as our person-centered solution to homelessness.
With gratitude,
Meg
Next Step worked! Read how we did it in on pages 8-9.
ACEH potential is just beginning to shine
A message from Board Chair Nathan Johnson
The global pandemic and resulting economic crisis led many in our community into homelessness. ACEH has leaned into the added challenge with innovation, outcomes-based practices and collaborative solutions — proving that transformative change is possible.
While our roots trace back roughly 20 years to a mayoral task force, our journey as an independent, mission-driven nonprofit is much more recent. The real turning point came less than five years ago when we redefined our focus, embracing two complementary roles.
We serve as the lead agency supporting the communitywide Continuum of Care Advisory Council, comprised of a wide array of homeless subject matter experts and community leaders, establishing bold strategies and policies to address homelessness.
Nathan Johnson talks at Project Homeless Connect with Farina Brown and Thea Bemben, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s special assistants on homelessness and health.
A year of progress in addressing homelessness
Person-centered + housing-centered + partnership = SUCCESS
Street outreach builds connection, trust — and a path to housing
Our work extends to those living in vehicles, tents and other places where no one should live. We marked our second year of street outreach in October. Partnering with SALA Medical for first aid in the field and Covenant House for youth engagement, our team brings consistent contact to build relationships and trust.
Our community is now better informed about who is experiencing unsheltered homelessness and we can prioritize them for housing based on their vulnerabilities. We’ve also begun weekly gatherings with all the organizations that do street outreach in our community to coordinate visits and share information. Our goal is for every camp to be visited every week.
Street Outreach by the numbers
7,521
contacts with people experiencing homelessness
681
Encampment visits and pop-up events
No one who requires hospital care should be discharged into homelessness, yet this is a reality for many in our community.
One of our key priorities is integrating our homelessness response system with the healthcare system to ensure that everyone has a safe place to go after medical care. The need is urgent: Nearly half of those experiencing homelessness live with a disability, and many cycle in and out of emergency departments, often due to the lack of stable housing.
To address this, we’ve been working closely with Anchorage hospitals to connect patients who are homeless with Coordinated Entry — a system that collects vital information about people experiencing homelessness and prioritizes those who are most vulnerable for housing placement. By leveraging this system, we can ensure that individuals discharged from hospitals have a safe, stable place to go, rather than returning to the streets. Continue reading
Looking for ways to mesh healthcare and homelessness
A bold solution
As winter approached in 2023, Anchorage faced a critical crisis: an estimated 900 people were living unsheltered in public spaces. The Municipality responded by opening 575 seasonal shelter beds, but a looming question remained — what would happen when those shelters closed? It was clear that Anchorage needed a bold, transformative solution.
Enter Next Step, a groundbreaking pilot program launched in December 2023. The concept was ambitious: quickly transition a significant number of people from shelters and encampments into stable housing using the proven Housing First model, which emphasizes permanent housing with supportive services.
A year In, we’re all in: Next Step is changing lives
Thank you to our partners & stakeholders !
Major Donors
Major Partners
Thank you to our 2024 donors!
We are grateful to the organizations and individuals who believed in our mission and contributed resources to help our neighbors experiencing homelessness.
Anita Algiene
Laurel Andrews
Atlas Arnhart
Jo Ann Asher
Moli Atanoa
Robert Barnett
Dan Bilderback
Raymond Black
Ella Blakey
Cindy Bobe
Stephen Bobyock
Deborah Boettcher
Bombas
Allison Bolgiano
Shauna Booton
Jason Brandeis
Mary Bristol
Roberta Britain
Tom & Anne Brooks
Katharine Brooks
Sarah Brotherton-Manna
Alexander Brown
Michele Brown
Diana Burch
Elizabeth Burke
Linda Cameron
Krystal Campbell
Megan Carlson
Steven Carlson
Sharon Chamard
John Christopherson
Sidney Cleveland
Sheri Cole
Cook Inlet Housing Authority
William Cotton
Zoe Cramer
Krissell Crandall
John Creed
Joanna Croft
Ethan Cruze
Peter Dally
Sandra Dehart-Mayor
Logan Dell
Lisa Demer
Gilbert Dickie
Leslie Donelow
Mark Drotar
Harriet Drummond
Arleen Duran
Barbara Eckrich
Diane Edge
David Elbow
Lucas Ellis
Dana Fabe & Randy Simpson
Bill Falsey
Ruth Fink
Fischbach family
Rosemarie Fitch
Denise Flory
Katelyn Foster
Heidi Frost
Moira Gallagher
LeeAnn Garrick
Closey Giffen
Charley Goldman
Victoria Granado
Andrew Gray
Judith Green
Sanjana Greenhill
Karyn Griffin
Robert Hancock
Leonard Hanna IV
Alice Hanscam
Christine Hanson
Faye Harasack
Peter Harvey
Diddy Hitchins
Barbara Hood
David Hoopes
Kacey Hopson
Anna Horn
Alyssa Hoskie
Ainsley Hoskie
Alexander Johnson
Marc Johnson
Mialma Johnson
Nathan Johnson
Matthew Jones
Faye Kata
Diane Kaplan
Alison Kelley
Sky Kim
David Kochevar
Kroger
Anna Kupilik
Marta Kurowski
Emily Kwon
Marleah LaBelle
Jeremy Landreth
Margaret Langdon
Emily Larabee
Janice Laxson
Jason Lessard
Jody Liddicoat
Joyce Lund
Jeffrey Lynch
Jacob Lyon
Melodie Mackey
Richard Mandsager
Elaine McCambridge
Mary McCormick
Jessica McGrath
Elizabeth McKee
David McLean
Toni McPherson
Paul Melin
Sarah Merriner
Mary Jane Michael
Goldman Miller
Michael Miller
Alan Mitchell
Carol Mitchell-Springer
Molly’s Collectables & Design
Douglas Molyneaux
Kelly Moore
Nina Moore
Matthew Muir
Kristen Norby
Kristen Norby
Eileen Norby
Susan Orlansky
Mary Lisa Paesani
Susan Panarese
Alan & Anna Maria Parkinson
Angela Pekich
Kenny & Kerstina Petersen
William Popp
Jessica Post
Carl Propes
Amy Prosise
Joe Ramos
Daniel Rathert
Julie Raymond-Yakoubian
Cyrus Read
Robert Reagan
Judith Renwick
Scott Rhode
Christopher Rice
Andrea Roess
Dr. Norman Rokosz
Matthew Rombach
Matias Saari
Dr. William L. Saltonstall Jr.
Dr. Elizabeth S. Saltonstall
Tammy Sandoval
Charlotte Sartor
Quinn Sawyer
Conni Schlee
Sarah Schuerch
Grayson Shaw
Morgan Sigmon
Ashley Siracusa
Raiden Skorski-Odonnell
Russ Slaten
McKenna Slivensky
Larry Smith
Russell Snyder
South Anchorage High School - Activism Club
Laura Spaan
Matthew Spear
Stanford University
- Alternative Spring Break
Signe Stanton
Richard Stoneking
Nicole Swensgard
Bryan Talbott-Clark
Jessica Taylor
Melissa Taylor
Linh-Dan Trinh
Turtle Fur
Peter Tymitz
Margaret Ungrodt
United Way of Anchorage
Wells Fargo Foundation
Debra Wickler
Susan Williams
- United Women in Faith
Claire Wilson
Dave Wilson
Mary Witte
Brian Woodruff
Parks and Recreation’s Healthy Spaces team cleans up encampments.
