Assembly’s homelessness chair says camping on Anchorage streets will not be illegal

After June’s ruling in favor of local control for homelessness problems, Anchorage Assembly Housing & Homelessness Committee Chair Felix Rivera reassured the vagrants and drug addicts of Anchorage that public camping will not be illegal in the municipality.

“It is important to note that the ruling addresses the criminalization and prosecution of people sleeping in public space. It has never been the practice or policy of the Municipality to actively prosecute people experiencing homelessness for the simple act of camping in public. Most recently, this April, the Assembly indefinitely postponed AO 2024-39, an ordinance proposed by the Bronson Administration which would have amended Title 8 to criminally penalize public camping,” Rivera said.

Rivera, a former member of the Ethan Berkowitz Administration, said the city is now addressing homelessness “humanely.”

“Today, the Municipality has all the tools we need to humanely address life, health, and safety in our community. Abatement is only one of the many tools and the Assembly approved AO 2024-55(S), As Amended, revising the regulations that prioritize abatement just last month,” he said. “In the coming months, I anticipate the incoming Administration and new Municipal Attorney will need time to review their toolbelt, assess the impact of the Grants Pass ruling and engage the Assembly in their approach.”

In May, when the Assembly passed the ordinance, Rivera called it a lighter version of what former Mayor Bronson had proposed, after the Assembly refused to allow him to complete the mass shelter that was part of his transition center proposal that he came into office with.

The new ordinance only bans homeless campsites within a half-mile of a shelter and trims group encampments to no more than 25 tents. The ordinance also says that if the city wants to clear a camp, it needs to give the campers 10 days, rather than the 15 days previously on the books.

Over the course of three years, the Assembly had expressed open hostility to Mayor Bronson, who came into office with the intention of solving the homeless crisis that now defines Anchorage.

The Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, which is run by Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel, wrote last week that the Supreme Court’s decision is “disappointing.”

“Today’s disappointing U.S. Supreme Court Grants Pass ruling will not change how we support basic needs of unsheltered neighbors,” the group wrote. ACEH says it has successfully housed 150 people over the past year in Anchorage. According to its tax filings with the IRS, it expended $1.6 million in 2022 and the current homeless population in Anchorage is between 1,700 and 3,000.

Most of the homeless are addicted to substances, are criminals, or are mentally ill or physically disabled.

“The solution to homelessness is housing, and our community has mapped out action steps in our five-year strategic plan, Anchored Home,” ACEH said.

“We hold tight to our commitment to ensure that homelessness in Anchorage is rare, brief and one-time,” said Zaletel.

Anchorage has spent $161 million on homelessness over a three-year span.

Subsequent to the Supreme Court decision, meanwhile, in other cities, such as Manchester, N.H., leaders have already passed no-street-camping ordinances and brought in bulldozers to raze the camps that are blocking rights of way.