Fairview residents are among the most compassionate, supportive, and open people I’ve met in Anchorage. We care about the homeless population in a way that people who do not live in our neighborhood wouldn’t understand. We have seen the concentration of social service organizations in our neighborhood lead to an acute problem that spills over into the rest of our city, and we believe that placing this project in this location will make the problem worse, not better. Karluk Manor will ultimately cost the city of Anchorage in elevated service calls, higher concentration of inebriates, lower property values, and more deaths in the chronic inebriate and homeless population.
Oh, and I just started a blog on the topic. I hope you'll join in the discussion.
1 The model they are using does not apply to this project, because of the location.
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•Successful “housing first” is based on a harm reduction model that requires more than a roof over an inebriate’s head. It requires removing residents from the problem.
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•1811 Eastlake is in a high-end neighborhood, more than 25 blocks from the problem areas of Seattle. It is 2 blocks from REI and next to $583,000 condominiums. It would be the equivalent of putting this project in Turnagain, or Bayshore.
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•1104 East 5th Avenue is wedged in between two high-traffic highway arteries, in the heart of the problem.
• There is no similarity to successful Housing First models and Karluk Manor. We cannot expect the same results.
2 The reasons for locating it here are flawed.
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•RuralCap claims that this is where the population is, and needs to be served.
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•Fact is, Fairview has become the dumping ground for Anchorage’s chronic inebriate problem.
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•We have the City Jail, and Sleep off Center, where chronic inebriates are brought from all over our city
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•When they sober up enough to be released, they can get a meal at Bean’s Cafe, and spend the night at Brother Francis.
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•When they don’t want to meet the requirements of homeless shelters, they find a large community of other inebriates and homeless camps, drug dealers, users, liquor stores, and congregations of fellow travelers.
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•Placing this project in the middle of this community is failing to provide them with a safe place to begin the road to recovery. It places them in the hornet’s nest, with temptations everywhere.
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•It's really more like the Lazarus Center in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, who's services have enabled the chronic inebriate population, and created a nuisance that attracts more inebriates to the area.
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•And, having a large intoxicated population in between some of Anchorage’s busiest streets is a recipe for disaster.
3 The plan is intended to produce savings to the city.
It will not.
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•The “model” plan has had two calls for emergency service every three days since opening. {link}
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•This is despite having a city funded nurse on staff 40 hours a week, and other personnel on staff 24/7
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•It’s not even going to save lives. 1811 Eastlake has 7-10 deaths/year, 10-15% of its population. {link}
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•Because of the proximity to the problem, we expect many more inebriates to become more drunk in the facility, then come into Fairview when the “no overnight guests” policy is enforced, resulting in more CSP and 911 calls
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•Property values immediately surrounding the property will also go down, as others will testify, resulting in a significant loss to city income from property taxes.
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•RuralCap may be planning to acquire these properties when they become cheap enough, and expand it’s facility, turning thriving businesses into tax-exempt properties.
4 Only reason they want to do the project here is because it’s cheap and they can get money for it. It will not benefit their clients, the city of Anchorage, or Fairview.
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•Ken Scollan, Manager for Anchorage Services of RuralCap, has cited they can’t do a project like this for $30,000 a bed anywhere’s else.
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•Another project in Fairview they have proposed to build as a 7-plex so that they don’t have to use Union Labor.
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•They get funding from the Mental Health Trust, Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, and US Agency for Housing and Urban Development. Public money that results in costs the rest of the community has to bear.
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•Melinda Freemon has stated that they can build it within existing zoning if they don’t provide any services on site. {link}
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•It is the expensive parts of their model project that have made it anything near a “success”.
In conclusion, if they want to do a housing first project that will save the city money, benefit their clients and decrease the impact on the neighborhood and city, they need to do it right.
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•It should be in an area where their clients feel safe to begin the road to recovery.
• It needs to be funded with adequate staff and services to reduce emergency service calls
• This project, in this location, is as wrong as it gets.
• At best it will be an experiment that will cost lives, money, and property, and it’s one this city cannot afford.
• As a community, as voters, and as tax-payers, we do not want to see this project done wrong, done on the cheap, or done to the harm of our community.
• This community is sick of being a dumping ground for underfunded, underresourced, overwhelmed social service projects.
• We will hold those of you in public office, whether elected or appointed, accountable for making unwise decisions.
List of Officials to Contact with your thoughts:
Dan Sullivan, Mayor mayor@muni.org 907.343.7100
Les Gara, Fairview Representative Representative_Les_Gara@legis.state.ak.us 888-465-2647
Johnny Ellis, Fairview Senator Senator_Johnny_Ellis@legis.state.ak.us 888-330-3704
Patrick Flynn, Fairview Assemblyman flynnpp@muni.org 907.278.8462
Find your assemblyman here
Contact the full assembly WWMAS@ci.anchorage.ak.us
Sean Parnell, Alaska Governor http://gov.alaska.gov/
Mark Begich, Alaska Senator http://begich.senate.gov/public/ 202.224.3004
Lisa Murkowski, Alaska Senator http://begich.senate.gov/public/ 202.224.6665
Don Young, Alaska Representative http://donyoung.house.gov/ 202.225.5765
Jeff Jessee, CEO, Alaska Mental Health Trust jeff.jessee@alaska.gov 907.269.7963
Daniel R. Fauske, Alaska Housing Finance Corporatio dfauske@ahfc.state.ak.us 907.330.8452
Jim Gurke Director, Public Housing jgurke@ahfc.state.ak.us 907-330-8432
William Doolittle, MD., Chair, Board of Trustees, Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority Dr.Doolittle@mhtrust.org
Corinne Oniel, Director Department of Neighborhoods, Homeless Taskforce DeptofNeighborhoods@ci.anchorage.ak.us, 343-4881