Keeping warming shelter for homeless open year-round being considered by city leaders
- Mark Sabbatini
- 2 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Assembly on Monday may introduce proposal to keep shelter open until June 30 instead of April 15, with an eye on further expansion due to struggles with ‘dispersed camping’ policy
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Extending the operations of the city’s cold-weather emergency shelter into warmer months, with the possibility of keeping it open year-round, is being considered by city leaders after two years of struggles under a "dispersed camping" policy for people experiencing homelessness.
The change could also result in the city conducting more stringent enforcement of camping in public areas, according to the proposal on the agenda for introduction at Monday night’s Juneau Assembly meeting.
An ordinance to keep the shelter in Thane open until June 30, rather than closing on April 15, is on the consent calendar for introduction, meaning it may get little or no discussion Monday. But Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said Friday’s discussion is likely to focus on the shelter’s operations longer-term if the Assembly does vote to take up the ordinance.
"The only reason that June 30 date is there is because that's the end of our fiscal year, but the conversation will be about whether or not to keep it open year-round," he said.
Keeping the shelter open year-round would be a significant shift in the city’s attempts to address issues involving unhoused residents that have become more problematic during the past few years.
Mill Campground near the Goldbelt Tram was closed permanently after the 2023 season due to a surge of illegal activity such as drug use, assaults, prostitution and theft — much of it affecting nearby property owners. The Assembly for the past two years has enacted a dispersed camping policy, but that has also resulted in a multitude of reported problems involving safety and sanitation.
The warming shelter, located about a mile south of the tram in a city-owned warehouse that’s also the official ballot processing center for municipal elections, opened in October of 2023 with a planned operating schedule of mid-October to mid-April. It is operated by St. Vincent de Paul Juneau under a contract with the city.
Extending the shelter’s period of operation was discussed last year by Assembly members, due to difficulties during the first year of the dispersed camping policy, but St. Vincent de Paul officials said they didn’t have the staff or funds to keep it open during the warmer months. However, Mollie Carr, SVDP’s deputy director, said Saturday the organization is now able to take on that responsibility.
"I've spoken to staff that are currently there, I've asked their opinion on how they felt about continuing the path that we're on, and they're like, ‘Yeah, that’s great if they could stay open," she said. "And I think they feel because they're there too, doing the work, that they feel that it would be great for it to be open for many reasons."
City Manager Katie Koester’s recommendation to the Assembly, according to Monday’s meeting agenda, is the ordinance be referred to its Committee of the Whole (which next meets March 16) and then — assuming it advances from that committee — be subject to a public hearing at the next regular Assembly meeting (scheduled April 6).
The proposed ordinance before the Assembly would allocate $208,487 to fund shelter operations between April 15 and June 30. Barr said no official amount has been determined for keeping the shelter open beyond that date until the regular winter opening date of Oct. 15, but it would likely be a comparable amount on a pro-rata basis.
Koester’s summary also notes "dispersed camping is a solution of last resort" and the city’s response to such campsites may change if the shelter is open year-round.
"If this ordinance is adopted, staff will take that as direction to enforce existing camping code, preventing widespread dispersed camping given a suitable alternative will exist," she wrote.
The city has dismantled campsites during the past two years when complaints about disruptions or disorder from neighboring areas became too prevalent. Police and city officials, after taking down one such site last June on Teal Street, allowed it to return soon after and remain until the first significant snow in November, with nonprofit organizations and some other people participating in efforts to keep sanitation and other issues at the site to a manageable level.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
