Limited hours, other restrictions make year-round warming shelter unappealing, winter campers say
- Mark Sabbatini
- 7 hours ago
- 4 min read
Assembly on Monday set to consider extending Thane shelter’s operations beyond usual April 15 closing, with an eye on getting tougher on camping in public areas
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Christopher Moran and Mona-Lisa Shiree Smith spent Easter in a tent under mostly gray skies with temperatures mostly in the high 30s softening the snow covering their campsite near Juneau International Airport. But while circumstances weren’t ideal, they said they prefer it to making the long trip to Thane to stay overnight in the city’s cold-weather emergency shelter.
"I’d rather be outside in the cold," Smith said.
Among the pair’s reasons is the shelter’s limited operating hours from 9 p.m. to 6:45 a.m., and especially the ban on anyone arriving or trying to reenter the shelter after midnight.
"That’s the most important time for any of us to get in there," she said.
Keeping the shelter open beyond its usual Oct. 15 to April 15 operating dates is scheduled for consideration by the Juneau Assembly on Monday night, but city officials acknowledge there may be reluctance among some people experiencing homelessness to stay there beyond winter, when weather conditions are more favorable.
Also being discussed is tougher enforcement of public camping rules. Camping in public spaces is only allowed for up to 48 hours under the current city code, but enforcement has been relaxed during the past two years under a "dispersed camping" policy approved by the Assembly.
"We’d definitely run out of places to go," Smith said when asked about trying to camp out during the warmer months of the year under those rules.
On Sunday about 10 tents and other makeshift shelters were at a campsite in a wooded area across from the airport. It has been a consistently used site for people experiencing homelessness since Mill Campground closed in 2023. Some of the people relocated from a site at Brotherhood Bridge within the past month, since it is now closed off due to the installation of HESCO barriers as part of a flood barrier extension.
Arnold Natkong, visiting friends at the campsite Sunday afternoon, said he’s in transitional housing after a period of homelessness, during which he stayed at the warming shelter and other spots. He said the shelter offers some appealing features including food and indoor restrooms installed at the beginning of its second season.
But making long shuttle trips there from the Glory Hall — or other sites near the airport — and the 6 a.m. wakeup call and having to depart shortly afterward are deterrents, Natkong said. He said longer operating hours — allowing people to stay until 9 or 10 a.m., for instance — "would be a game changer."
"A lot more people I think would be able to get some rest and possibly look for work," he said. "There's a few workers amongst us."
Limited availability of staff at St. Vincent de Paul Juneau, which operates the shelter under a contract with the city, has previously made extending the shelter’s operating months infeasible. The Assembly on Monday is scheduled to consider approving $208,487 to keep the shelter open until June 30 — the end of the current fiscal year — and also possibly spending $1.1 million during the coming year for year-round operation.
Extending the shelter’s daily hours would require both more funding and additional staff, according to St. Vincent de Paul officials.
Among the people staying at the shelter Sunday night was Steven Grove, who said he arrived from Fairbanks about a week ago for what turned out to be a phony job offer, so he needed a place to stay before heading back north. He said he’s shuttling between the shelter at night and the Glory Hall during the day, but agrees with some others that extending the shelter’s hours would make it a more appealing place to stay.
"The shelter in Fairbanks, it's a high-barrier shelter," he said. "You have to pass a drug test, breathalyzer, all that. Once you're in you can leave your stuff there all day long. You have the opportunity to go look for a job, get housing, they help you in every way possible."
Juneau’s cold-weather emergency shelter is officially a low-barrier shelter intended as a last resort for people with nowhere else to stay during the coldest months. However, some initial guidelines from past years — such as opening only on nights when temperatures are below freezing — have been set aside, and the facility now provides food both during the evening and morning. The Glory Hall also offers three meals a day, along with other daytime services.
Rules still in effect at the overnight shelter are a curfew from midnight to 5 a.m., when access to provided food and smoking breaks outside the shelter are halted, and people cannot leave belongings at the shelter during the day. Drug use at the shelter will also result in a suspension of access for a period determined by staff.
A summary of a proposed ordinance the Assembly will consider Monday, authorizing year-round operation of the shelter, also characterizes the dispersed camping policy "a solution of last resort."
"In past years, CBJ and its partners have not been able to identify a suitable location — either a suitable campground or facility — or an operator with capacity to provide emergency sheltering services," the summary notes. "CBJ staff and partner agencies have identified a single option to provide emergency sheltering year-round rather than only during the winter months: extending operations at the 1325 Eastaugh Way (shelter) and continuing to work with our existing provider in that space, St. Vincent de Paul. 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."
Smith said she and other campers near the airport haven’t been bothered by police or other city officials in recent weeks, and her preference for the coming summer is to keep it that way if people aren’t being disruptive.
"I think as long as we keep our trash and stuff picked up everything’s fine," she said.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
