As encampment settles in next door, Anchorage nonprofit to build 6 tiny homes for the homeless

Julie Greene-Graham hands retired meals to group surviving retired of tents adjacent Central Lutheran Church successful Anchorage connected Wednesday, July 11, 2024. A grassroots nonprofit she chairs is preparing to build six units of mini location transitional shelters connected nan religion grounds, adjacent to an encampment that sprung up successful June. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media)

A grassroots kindness plans to break crushed successful Anchorage later this summertime connected six mini homes to shelter group who are homeless. It’s apt to beryllium nan first clip anyplace successful Alaska that nan other mini structures are utilized specifically to reside homelessness.

The mini homes will beryllium built extracurricular of Central Lutheran Church disconnected 15th Avenue. Coincidentally, group started mounting up tents successful June connected city-owned onshore correct adjacent to nan early shelter site. Shelter operators usually want to support camps for illustration these – and nan unsavory elements they sometimes pull – away from nan group they’re actively serving. 

But for this statement to effort to get this encampment cleared would beryllium hypocritical. The sanction of nan nonprofit is In Our Backyard. 

Julie Greene-Graham said she utilized to perceive “not successful our backyard” a batch erstwhile she was a personnel of a metropolis task force that worked connected emergency shelter plans. 

“We want to invited group successful our backyard,” she said.

Greene-Graham chairs nan nonprofit’s board. It started pinch members of nan Central Lutheran Church past fall.

The scheme is to build six mini homes retired of structural insulated panels, and group up a trailer pinch 2 afloat bathrooms successful it this summer. Four of nan units are for individuals and will beryllium 64 quadrate feet. Two are for 2 group and will beryllium 96 quadrate feet. For safety, 1 portion will beryllium utilized by a paid, overnight tract manager, Greene-Graham said. 

In this conceptual rendering, six mini homes, a bath and ablution trailer, a retention shed and a covered communal abstraction are fenced successful astatine nan separator of Central Lutheran Church’s spot disconnected 15th Avenue successful Anchorage. (Courtesy of In Our Backyard)

The extremity is to unfastened nan mini homes successful October to 7 people, aged 50 and up who tin unrecorded independently and don’t person constituent aliases intoxicant usage issues. 

“‘Cause we don’t really person nan capacity to negociate group pinch more, you know, analyzable aesculapian issues,” she said. 

The mini homes will beryllium unfastened year-round. The thought is group tin unrecorded location temporarily until they find much imperishable housing.

To find who lives successful them, nan nonprofit will trust connected nan Coordinated Entry strategy that societal work agencies usage to link group pinch shelter beds each complete town. It useful for illustration a triaged waitlist for group seeking shelter. Generally, it prioritizes group pinch nan top needs. But it tin besides surface for eligibility characteristics that In Our Backyard and different higher barrier, privately operated shelters impose.

Seven group is conscionable a driblet successful nan bucket of nan 550 group that nan Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness estimates are surviving retired of tents and cars successful nan metropolis correct now. But Greene-Graham said there’s been a batch of liking successful nan project.

“There’s decidedly an appetite for more, and each clip we springiness a talk, we person group measurement up pinch either donations, aliases volunteer, aliases group saying, ‘I’m a structural engineer, I want to help,’” she said. “So there’s tons of caring and compassionate group successful our community.”

Donated expertise and services person helped support nan costs down. Greene-Graham said Thursday nan organizers person raised astir half of its $300,000 superior budget, and that Matson precocious committed $8,000 worthy of shipping expenses to get nan building materials to Anchorage. 

She said they’re readying for it to costs astir $73,000 a twelvemonth to run. Specifics of nan cognition are still being worked on. She wants a lawsuit head to beryllium connected tract regularly, and to build up a organization support web consenting to thief retired nan shelter users pinch small errands. 

They besides intend to cod occupancy fees, but haven’t figured retired really overmuch yet. If things spell well, they’ll springiness those fees backmost to shelter users erstwhile they move on, possibly to beryllium utilized arsenic a information deposit connected a caller flat on pinch a bully reference missive for a prospective landlord. 

Separately, Greene-Graham has besides been volunteering for nan church, helping nan caller neighbors camping on nan spot statement wherever nan mini homes will soon beryllium built. She helps them pinch immoderate basal needs. 

A fewer Fridays ago, she was doing her rounds successful nan camp, and a man pinch bedewed hairsbreadth walked complete to inquire if a dumpster was coming. She wasn’t sure, but offered him immoderate trash bags, and told him wherever to put garbage to make it easy for nan city’s seasonal cleanup unit to prime up. 

“We want to support it clean, yeah?” he said. 

“Yeah, and I deliberation you guys are doing a bully job,” Greene-Graham told him.

“Thank you very much,” he said. 

“And you look truthful good, aft your shower!” she told him. 

That afternoon, a First United Methodist Church-affiliated task had its mobile ablution trailer disposable successful nan parking lot. A batch of organizations person been pitching in. There’s besides a porta potty and free meals distributed daily. 

“Just trying to beryllium bully neighbors and having a narration pinch group who are staying here, to inquire them to support it safe,” Greene-Graham said. “But we person seen immoderate criminal activity. We did telephone 311 yesterday to person group locomotion through.”

That’s a telephone number for contacting Anchorage constabulary pinch non-emergency matters.

“There’s a batch of, uh, motorcycle activity,” Greene-Graham said. 

Asa Plikat has firsthand acquisition pinch that “bike activity.” The caller precocious schoolhouse postgraduate lives adjacent pinch his family. A fewer weeks ago, he said, their car shed was surgery into and his upland bike, worthy astir $1,000, was missing.

Within a fewer hours, he spotted it successful nan camp.

“And astir 9 group look from tents that are staring astatine maine and yelling astatine me,” he said. 

He said he impulsively grabbed his bike, and successful a super-assertive voice, announced, “This is my bike. I’m taking this pinch me.”

A cluster of bicycles and tents beryllium successful an encampment adjacent nan 15th Avenue sportfishing reel span successful Anchorage connected June 28, 2024. Two days later, Asa Plikat said he spotted his stolen upland motorcycle successful this cluster of tents and took it back. By July 10, nan tents had each turned complete aliases relocated, and nan bikes were gone. (Jeremy Hsieh/Alaska Public Media)

He said 1 female followed him backmost to his motortruck and doused him successful carnivore spray. 

Plikat’s mom, by nan way, useful astatine Alaska Public Media and she’s not very happy astir immoderate of his decisions. He sewage location and reported nan incident to Anchorage police, who besides discouraged amateur repo work. 

“I deliberation it could’ve gone a batch worse,” Plikat said, connected reflection. 

So that’s nan different broadside of In Our Backyard’s backyard. Greene-Graham said location person been setbacks to maintaining a bully neighbour relationship. 

“So, it’s that balance,” she said. 

The number of tents successful nan campy fluctuates a lot, but it’s been astir 20 to 25 lately. Theoretically, nether an ordinance nan Anchorage Assembly adopted successful May, sites pinch much than 25 are expected to beryllium a precocious privilege for nan metropolis to clear out. City codes besides forbid camping wrong half a mile of a licensed shelter, though that doesn’t use to In Our Backyard. 

Greene-Graham said she’s not judge really nan campy will effect nan mini location project. For now, she’s still moving nan bully neighbour angle, trying to support nan church’s spot safe and nan encampment civilian arsenic building approaches. 

She thinks of nan mini location task arsenic a pilot: Work done nan building process, resoluteness problems, archive it, and move it into a manual for different groups to emulate successful their ain backyards.