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Gov. Mike Dunleavy has through Friday to issue any vetoes of state budget items, including $4 million the Legislature included to keep Anchorage’s 200-bed homeless shelter open.
The cold weather shelter in the former Solid Waste Services administration building has a capacity of about 200 clients. Photographed May 30. Still awaiting final word from the governor on a potential $4 million in state funding for homeless sheltering, the Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday approved about $426,000 in “bridge funding” to keep the municipality’s shelter open through the end of July.
open from July through the end of the year. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has through Friday to issue any budget line-item vetoes. The city is currently going through a public bidding process to secure a new organization to take over shelter operations in August, said Alexis Johnson, city homeless coordinator under Mayor Dave Bronson’s administration. “This just buys us a little bit more time to get the governor’s budget, get the in place and then get the money appropriated and new operators on site,” Johnson said.in alcohol tax funds that were set aside for non-emergency transportation during the city’s emergency cold weather sheltering. Members approved another It’s possible the city’s funding for July could be reimbursed if the state funding comes through, according to memorandums from the Health Department.in October as part of its emergency winter homeless sheltering plan. It is located on 56th Avenue in Midtown in a former Solid Waste Services administrative building.Two other city shelters in local hotels closed at the end of May. Unsheltered homelessness has since swelled, with homeless residents camping and living in vehicles within parks and along streets across the city. Henning leaders previously said the operator would leave the shelter after June. It is not seeking another long-term contract with the city to run the shelter, said Shawn Hays, Henning’s founder and executive director, on Wednesday. The city asked if Henning would renew for one month “because they knew that things would not be finalized in time and there would be 200 people on the streets,” she said.of group text messages sent between Henning Inc.’s top executives, including Hays, and the Bronson administration’s homeless coordinator, Johnson. Assembly members said the texts raised concerns about how Henning was managing city shelters and questions about whether some staff may have attempted to influence clients to vote for Bronson in the recent city election. Hays and another executive have said the text messages were taken “grossly out of context” and have denied doing anything unethical or illegal, or violating its city contracts for operating shelters.Municipal Manager Kent Kohlhase on Wednesday said he expects the report will be sent to Assembly leaders next week. City officials are currently performing a final review of the report draft, he said. On Wednesday, Hays reiterated her statements and said she is also awaiting the final report, because a preliminary review found no violations.Emily Goodykoontz is a reporter covering Anchorage local government and general assignments. She previously covered breaking news at The Oregonian in Portland before joining ADN in 2020. Contact her at egoodykoontz@adn.com.
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