Glory Hall halting meals, other day access to non-residents after Assembly rejects homeless safety zone
- Mark Sabbatini
- Aug 7
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 7
New policy takes effect Aug. 26; officials looking to establish meal program at alternative site, some treatment services will still be available by appointment
The Glory Hall will halt meals and other daytime access to people who are not residents as of Aug. 26, following the Juneau Assembly’s decision Monday not to establish a safety zone around the shelter that staff were seeking due to ongoing problems from homeless campers.
The restriction has been under consideration for some time to ensure the facility is safe for residents and staff, Kaia Quinto, executive director of the Juneau Housing First Collaborative, which operates the shelter and soup kitchen, said Thursday. She said the board of directors authorized her to make the change before Monday’s Assembly meeting and she implemented it after city leaders deadlocked 4-4 on the vote to establish a safety zone banning nearby camping.
Efforts to establish a meal program at an alternative location are underway, but it is not known yet where or when it will be operating, Quinto said.
A written notice sent by the Glory Hall to patrons states "we must change how we operate to make sure that our staff, patrons, volunteers, visitors, neighbors, and partners who live and work in and around our facility are safe."
"We also must concentrate on providing quality service to people in need to meet our mission to end homelessness and achieve equity, health, and dignity through housing, connection to services, and community," the notice adds. "We cannot accomplish these goals without changes to our operations."
The building will be secured and a visitor policy enacted as of Aug. 26 that will allow people access to some services during office hours, according to the notice. That includes navigation services from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, and case management and clinical services "available on a basis consistent with the visitor policy."
PATH Program Services will be mostly off-site, but available Mondays through Thursdays from 9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. Also, the Stabilization Program is ending in September due to a separate action by the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. more than a year ago.
Camping by people experiencing homelessness has been a significant problem for the city during the past couple of years, beginning with a large increase in reports of illegal activity at the city-sanctioned Mill Campground near the Goldbelt Tram two summers ago. The Assembly as a result approved a dispersed camping policy with no designated site, leaving people on their own to find sleeping spots.
That has resulted in a barrage of complaints throughout town from residents and businesses due to nearby campers, as well as the campers themselves. The vicinity of the Glory Hall has been one of the most heavily populated camping area due to the shelter and other nearby social service agencies being located there.
The Assembly’s Committee of the Whole on Monday, at the request of agency officials, considered a proposed ordinance establishing a safety zone in the Teal Street area, similar to one established in Bellingham, Washington, a year ago. Anchorage also has a similar restriction, but it is facing a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union.
City Attorney Emily Wright told Assembly members one of the legal issues of the safety zone is opponents can argue it discriminates by targeting a specific group of people rather than the general population.
"We are very specifically talking about homeless people," she said. "And if I were to go to court — if we were to be sued by the ACLU — they would have the meeting notes, they would have the organization notes, they would know what we're talking about. So every time we talk about these things we need to look at the broad perspective, bigger picture for our city. What are the behaviors that we don't like in our city? What are the behaviors that we need to stop or encourage so that our service providers can provide services?"
Assembly members favoring the proposal cited the need to protect vulnerable people staying and working at the shelter. Assembly Member Wade Bryson said that protection should be provided and the issue of trying to reduce homelessness treated as a separate issue.
Deputy Mayor Greg Smith said while the policy isn’t perfect and there are pending legal questions, approving to proceed with the ordinance would simply bring it before the full Assembly where it could go through further review and public comment before a vote to adopt it is considered.
Among those voting against the ordinance was Assembly Member Ella Adkison, who said "I really think that I'd rather focus on other areas where we aren't getting ourselves into legal hot water." Assembly Member Maureen Hall, who also voted in opposition, said while she supports the idea of security for facilities such as the Glory Hall, she doesn’t favor banning people from camping nearby if they need meals and other services provided by the shelter.
Bryson, noting a trespass order could be issued against somebody camping on private property, asked why a similar policy can’t be used for the Teal Street locations where campers frequent.
Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said the city currently has a policy where homeless encampments on public land can be dismantled if their presence becomes too disruptive to an area. Such removals have occurred multiple times this year — including to groups of tents along Teal Street — but people can move back three days later.
"If the Assembly wishes to give us a different direction about when we should take enforcement action we will certainly hear that and act accordingly," Barr said.
A more practical than legal concern was raised by Assembly Member Neil Steininger, who asked Barr where homeless residents will go if a safety zone is established.
"Do you kind of have any instinct from working in this area where these individuals might end up actually going in town?" Steininger said. "Where is this impact going to shift to from the Teal Street area should we make that an area with a complete, stricter, no-camping ban? Will they end up in Mr. Bryson's neighborhood, as he used in his example?"
Barr said the likelihood is "we would see increased camping on the border of whatever we define a shelter safety zone to be geographically," as well as "along easily accessible greenbelt-type areas."
"So think along the undeveloped side of the Mendenhall River, back behind Fred Meyer, various sorts of park and greenbelt areas in the Lemon Creek area, and the like," he said.
Steininger, in response, observed "most of those areas described are much closer to existing residential neighborhoods" than the Teal Street facilities.
Bryson said he believes discussions about where camp sites should be allowed are misguided because it suggests officials are OK with the concept of ongoing camping by people without other shelter.
"If we are trying to make camping easier it means we've given up on trying to end homelessness by trying to make it OK for people to not have a home and provide a camping area for them," he said. "It means we've stopped trying to provide a home for them."
A cold-weather emergency shelter south of downtown Juneau is scheduled to be open for a third season between Oct. 15 and April 15, Barr said. However, he said St. Vincent de Paul Juneau, which operates the shelter under a contract with the city, does not have the staffing to open the shelter earlier or keep it open year-round.
Assembly members, after rejecting the safety zone, asked city officials to examine other possible options such as additional security for areas such as Teal Street or a year-round shelter. Barr said officials are considering options for a low-barrier shelter during warmer months and there are preliminary indicators a property in the Teal Street area may be for sale, which he didn’t specifically name since its status is not certain.
"So one of the options that I would anticipate bringing back to you in the future is a potential land purchase and renovation — or land purchase, and demolish, and build shelter option," he said.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
