Assembly committee finalizes resolution adopting criteria shelter

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A resolution adopting criteria for a new permanent, year-round low-barrier shelter in Anchorage was finalized on Wednesday.

The decision was made at the final special Housing and Homelessness Committee meeting dedicated to discussing requirements for the shelter. If passed by the Assembly, the criteria settled on Wednesday will be used to help choose the location for a new shelter.

“I think this is a really good, positive step forward,” Assembly member Felix Rivera said. “We’re officially for the first time ever going to adopt site-selection criteria for where shelter should be located within the municipality.”

Rivera believes this is a critical step in the process of establishing the shelter. If the resolution is passed, it would also be the municipality’s first time formally adopting site-selection criteria for a shelter as a matter of public policy.

Some required characteristics of the shelter:

• Every person staying in the shelter must have 50 square feet of space, with additional space required for administration and services.
• The funding must be available in the budget and will be presented to the Assembly as a basis for looking at properties. The cost hasn’t been determined yet.
• The property must be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act or easily brought up to compliance with the ADA.

The meeting also included a discussion on opening dates, capital costs, distances to places such as grocery stores and public transportation, and creating a visibility buffer. Some preferred characteristics of the shelter:

• The selected location should have a 500-foot buffer zone from locations with children, such as schools, childcare facilities, and playgrounds.
• The property should be within a quarter mile of public transportation.
• The property should be activated as a shelter between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31.

The finalized criteria should help to narrow down the possible locations for the shelter within the municipality.

“That gets us to the next part of the discussion — which is going to be a tough one — which is locations and figuring out locations for shelter,” Rivera said.

The resolution on site-selection criteria will have a public hearing and is expected to be voted on by the Anchorage Assembly at the July 11 meeting.

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