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By Mark Thiessen

The Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska 鈥� Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson gained national attention this summer when he聽聽out of Alaska鈥檚 largest city for anyone without housing who wanted to leave before winter.

Now, with the season鈥檚 first snow expected to arrive in weeks, those free tickets are nowhere in sight and the city is scrambling to pull together a grab bag of shelter options for its more than 3,000 residents in need. The city鈥檚 mass shelter in a sports arena closed after complaints from neighbors about bad behavior and bickering between the city鈥檚 liberal Assembly and conservative mayor killed hopes for a new permanent shelter and navigation center to take its place.

The Anchorage Assembly has approved allocation of $4 million in funds and will vote on additional elements of an emergency plan this week. City leaders 鈥� who estimate they still need to find up to 450 winter beds 鈥� say they are confident they have enough emergency housing ready, but the mood on the streets is grim.

鈥淎 lot of people are going to freeze,鈥� said Scott Gibson, who is preparing to spend his second Alaska winter outside.

Someone recently destroyed Gibson鈥檚 tent and stole most of what was inside. Now everything he owns fits in a backpack.

鈥淚 have nothing,鈥� he said, as he tried to make some money repairing an old car at a homeless encampment across from the city library.

Cold snaps can plunge temperatures to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit for days in Anchorage, where winds whip off Cook Inlet.

Anchorage last winter had a record 24 , with 11 fatalities occurring in the winter months between October 2022 and April 2023, said Alexis Johnson, housing and homeless coordinator for the city. Records have been kept since 2017.

Alaska鈥檚 biggest city has an estimated 3,150 homeless individuals and enough room in shelters for all but about 775 people, Johnson said. The city recently introduced four more housing facilities able to accommodate 310 people, but it鈥檚 still seeking winter housing for an estimated 400 to 450 people.

By renting hotel rooms, Johnson hopes to limit the capacity of a mass winter homeless shelter to no more than 150 people 鈥� one of the Assembly鈥檚 stipulations when releasing the emergency funds. The city wants to use a recently vacated administration building as a makeshift, low-barrier shelter, Johnson said.

鈥淲e are executing as fast as we can to get that done,鈥� the mayor said.

The Assembly recently awarded a $1.3 million grant to the Anchorage Affordable and Housing Land Trust, which will need to match the funding to rehabilitate vacant and abandoned properties able to provide about 40 new housing units. The group wants to start transitioning people out of winter shelters in April.

Assembly member Felix Rivera said the solution can鈥檛 be only standing up another warehouse-style mass shelter but must include a permanent shelter and an early path to transition to longer-term housing. The new units in vacant or abandoned properties will kick-start that effort, he said.

Because Alaska has an extra-short summer construction season, 鈥渢here must be a lot of progress made between now and April 1鈥� to avoid a repeat of the rush for emergency housing next winter, Rivera said.

Bronson in July suggested it would be cheaper to fly homeless people to other states or elsewhere in Alaska than to house them for the winter. The unfunded proposal drew angry rebukes from mayors in California and Hawaii and skepticism from many people in Anchorage鈥檚 own unsheltered community.

鈥淚鈥檓 not trying to get rid of people to get rid of them,鈥� Bronson said in an interview. 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to get people to a solution where they don鈥檛 freeze to death.鈥�

During the pandemic, Anchorage configured the roughly 6,000-seat Sullivan Arena to be a mass-care facility. It served more than 500 homeless people in wintertime until city officials decided to return it to its original purpose: a venue for concerts and hockey games.

Homeless encampments sprang up all over the city, including near Anchorage鈥檚 historic train depot used by thousands of tourists this summer.

Political tension between the liberal-leaning Assembly and the conservative mayor over policy and process has slowed progress on what was to be a new shelter on the city鈥檚 east side. Work stopped after Bronson approved the contract without Assembly approval, and the governing body wound up paying the contractor nearly $2.5 million to settle a dispute over work already completed.

Anchorage, home to around 300,000 people, has 40 percent of the state鈥檚 population but 65 percent of its homeless population, Bronson said.

The city since 2020 has spent $161 million to address the homeless crisis, he added.

Greg Smith, a homeless resident visiting friends at the camp above the depot, said that during the past winter he wrapped blankets and plastic around his tent, which is warmed by a little heater.

鈥淲hat do we have to show for it? Smith said of the money spent by city leaders. 鈥淣othing. Everybody shares and huddles together, and you make it through winter.鈥�