Big steps for our unsheltered neighbors

Dozens of people living outdoors in Anchorage are getting a chance to transition from encampments directly to housing.

Next Step, which has proven itself in its first six months by housing 150 people mainly from shelter, has moved outside. This project is the first in Anchorage to solely house people from encampments. The model has been highly successful in Houston, Texas, where homelessness has dropped 60% in 12 years.

In Anchorage, funds in hand can provide a year of housing and supports for up to 45 people who transition from encampments this summer and fall.

This shifts a disruptive, disjointed camp closure process into a cohesive, coordinated housing-focused response. We are working closely with the Municipality’s Parks and Rec Healthy Spaces unit and the Anchorage Police Department’s Community Action Policing Team to identify encampments, establish a process and set a timeline. Fifteen landlords including three property management companies have signed up to provide units for Next Step with financial incentives and troubleshooting from a liaison.

Our street outreach team knows people living outdoors by name — and tent. Each person on the Next Step list will get a case manager, an apartment suited to them and a move-in kit. Need an ID? Our team will help with that, too.

“Instead of being told go camp somewhere else or go to shelter, they are getting housing,” said Jessica Parks, the Coalition’s chief operations officer. “They are being permanently housed. They are no longer homeless.

“This is how we are changing the landscape.”

Some of the people in one encampment have lived outdoors for a decade or even longer. One is a veteran. Some are couples.

“You are going to get an opportunity for housing,” Mike Hill, the Coalition’s outreach & housing navigation specialist, tells one man. “It’s really happening.”

“Are we going to have to keep moving?” the man asks.

Not once you have your own place, Hill says. The team will help with apartment applications and case management will provide in-home support. “We don’t want you to stumble.”

Over the next few weeks, residents of the camp will be guided through the steps. Then the space where they have lived will be cleaned up and closed to camping. 

A 50-something man enrolled for Next Step has experienced homelessness for more than 20 years. The possibility of a door that locks and a safe place to sleep makes him tear up. He holds tight to what his daughter once told him:

“It’s never too late.”