Ketchikan’s main homeless shelter is shutting its doors for good

After 2 years operating retired of nan city-owned Park Avenue building, First City Homeless Services announced connected June 10, 2024 that nan statement was shuttering. (Michael Fanelli/KRBD)

Ketchikan’s main bum shelter, which had precocious been serving much than 200 participants, will adjacent for bully this week. The astonishment announcement came from First City Homeless Services, nan statement that runs nan shelter. The statement shared a missive Monday from its committee of directors, saying that aft 16 years of operation, they’re shutting down.

In nan letter, nan committee wrote that “continual obstructive behavior” from nan Ketchikan City Council led them to nan decision.

CEO Deborah Asper said from nan clip nan group moved into nan city-owned building, unit person struggled to support up pinch shifting expectations.

“Just constant, you know, ‘Do this, you’re doing this wrong, do this,’” Asper said. “I mean, from what doorway we participate into, to calling nan occurrence marshal connected a building that their departments developed, to nan City Council members coming into nan building and telling maine that I was going to get fired.”

The metropolis had requested that nan shelter statesman offering 24/7 services and invited it to move into nan Park Avenue building, which unit did successful August 2022. But nan building’s proximity to some businesses and neighborhoods quickly created tensions pinch nan community, which Asper has acknowledged.

The group past recovered a caller location, nan aged VFW building, which they planned to renovate. That caller building wouldn’t person been fresh for move-in until astatine slightest 2026. And backmost successful March, nan City Council voted to extremity nan shelter’s lease at its existent location this July.

Asper said they looked for impermanent relocation options, but couldn’t find thing disposable to meet their needs. She besides said nan committee does not want to spell backmost to “warehousing,” aliases giving group a spot to slumber without providing supportive services.

“So you’re keeping them live to conscionable unrecorded this marginalized existence. Rather than keeping them alive, and past moving pinch them to move retired of their existent situations,” Asper explained. “That exemplary is nary longer funded. That exemplary is nary longer used. It really perpetuates each of nan issues surrounding homelessness.”

Asper developed a three-tiered exemplary of activity and life-skills training for her participants, which she said has been hugely successful, exceeding their ain expectations. In nan letter, nan shelter’s committee said that nan exemplary could person efficaciously addressed Ketchikan’s homelessness needs, but nan metropolis “is not yet fresh to beryllium a leader successful this sector.”

The statement will beryllium ending its operations by this Friday. It’s unclear what will go of their hundreds of participants.