Project Homeless Connect returns after Assembly approves year-round operation of warming shelter
- Jasz Garrett
- 3 hours ago
- 8 min read
‘I think it’s so important to let them know that we’re happy that they showed up because we know that takes a lot of strength.’
By Jasz Garrett
Juneau Independent
Project Homeless Connect has “opened pathways” for unhoused Juneau residents. Last Tuesday, about 30 agencies provided services to more than 100 people at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall, according to the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s Community Advocacy Program.
The Community Advocacy Program and the Juneau Coalition on Housing and Homelessness partnered this year to host the event for the first time since the spring of 2022.
“It’s been a steady stream of people who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, volunteers. It’s been good to connect in person,” said Dave Ringle, who recently retired as the executive director of St. Vincent de Paul Juneau. The organization is a part of the Juneau Coalition on Housing and Homelessness.
Ringle said it was good to network and meet the people the agencies serve. He said it was fortunate the Central Council stepped up since many people who were part of the core planning group left during the COVID-19 pandemic, and institutional knowledge is needed to make the event possible.
“This is a reinstitution of what had been until 2020 an annual event for several years, and when COVID hit we changed things,” he said. “Getting to meet people makes a huge difference — even just making the connections.”
It was the first time Tlingit and Haida co-hosted, said Natasha Jackson, manager of the tribe’s Community Advocacy Program. In the past, Tlingit and Haida was involved as a resource. She said during the planning process she considered which agencies work with Juneau’s Alaska Native population, such as nonprofits and medical services.
“It’s not very often that all of us are in a room together, like the nonprofits and tribal and medical services,” Jackson said. “It’s such a great networking opportunity for us to talk to each other. Especially talking to our homeless population, I think it’s so important to let them know that we’re happy that they showed up because we know that takes a lot of strength.”
She said tribal citizens who have experienced trauma often fall into gaps and “it’s important to try to meet them where they’re at.”
“Our Community Advocacy Department, a majority of our work is really looking at the whole picture,” Jackson said. “What we do is we try to get them back into community and back into services.”
Someone must be a tribal citizen to receive help from the advocacy department, but Jackson said people who are not will be referred to sister agencies like AWARE and Family Promise.
The department’s process starts with an assessment. After needs are identified, people are connected with tribal and nonprofit organizations to get general assistance, housing, and help with qualifying for Medicaid waivers through Southeast Alaska Independent Living.
“We’re just trying to find where exactly the need is,” Jackson said.
At Project Homeless Connect, she said people mostly sought free clothing, breakfast and lunch, foot care, and haircuts. She said many also took the chance to schedule primary care appointments.
Jackson said Ringle reached out months ago, requesting the event be in a centralized, downtown location. A Polaris House and warming shelter staff van circulated to bring people to the event from around town.
The location and date were both chosen because of the expectation the emergency cold-weather warming shelter run by St. Vincent would close April 15. Instead, the Juneau Assembly last week approved its operation through fiscal year 2026.
Juneau Police Department Cmdr. Jeremy Weske sat at a table chatting with Project Homeless Connect attendees. In an interview, he said this year’s camping guidelines are still being finalized, but people can camp in accordance with the current city code.
“The big change from last year to this year is that no camping is allowed on any part of the public right of way,” Weske said. “So that includes streets, drainage, ditch areas, kind of like what we saw at Teal Street. That won’t be OK this year. Camping off of a right-of-way is allowed. The ordinance talks about how you can camp for 48 hours, but then you have to move at least a half mile away from where you were camping. And I think that’s where we’re still waiting a little bit for guidance.”
He said he doesn’t think JPD will strictly enforce the rule for campers in secluded areas unless someone is a risk to public health and safety or is a community concern.
“If we’re getting a lot of complaints about a certain campsite, then we may go out and check on it if necessary and give a 48-hour notice,” Weske said. “But the hope last year and the hope this year was that if people wanted to camp — we welcome them to camp — they just have to do it in a way that’s appropriate and respectful of the area they’re camping in.”
He said the police department understands a person’s need to have stable housing; however, JPD wants to direct people toward the shelter since “it should theoretically be a safer option for them.” Weske said the police department wants to make people as comfortable as they can.
Jno Didrickson said he doesn’t feel safe at the shelter, but he has been staying there recently after being asked repeatedly by JPD to move his campsite.
“I was camping out for a while, but the cops have been sitting on my hiding holes, which is usually out of the way, and I can’t afford anything on my record,” he said. “I’ve never been in trouble with the law, never been arrested. I don’t want those sort of legal entanglements.”
He said police presence pushed him to stay at the warming shelter in Thane this month, though he usually camps out in the woods.
“As soon as it warms up and the snow pulls off the ground, I’d rather be in a tent,” Didrickson said. “One, the sort of people who use the warming shelter chase legitimate people who are on hard times away. Don’t feel safe, don’t know if you’re going to get things stolen from you — there’s drugs and alcohol use throughout the streets. Although they’re clean and sober when they show up, it’s just that sort of environment and vibe that’s a problem.”
Other unhoused campers in Juneau have said the same.
Didrickson said he has been homeless on and off since returning to Juneau from Turkey four years ago. He cited difficulties in obtaining identification and inconsistent income as reasons, but also Juneau’s housing shortage as the broader challenge. He said it took him two years to find the apartment he lost most recently. This time around he has been on the streets since October 2025.
“Rent is just sky high, right? And with the seasonal workers, it doesn’t help,” he said. “Finding a place to stay is just insane.”
He said he is not against seasonal employees, but he believes they need their own designated place to prevent them from monopolizing long-term rentals, or more affordable long-term rentals need to be built.
Didrickson is waiting to hear if he’s been accepted to student housing at the University of Alaska Southeast, but needs to find a way to raise $300 by May 1 to retain summer application eligibility. He said he doesn’t qualify for low-income housing since his income fluctuates.
“I’m an Alaska Native artist who fell on hard times,” he said. “I can go from $0 monthly to $10,000-15,000 in a day. It really screws up that low income because you have to be underneath a certain amount, and if you go over, you get penalized.”
He carves and creates jewelry out of silver, but said this has been challenging because the price of silver has increased significantly in the past year. Not only that, but he said fewer and fewer people are willing to buy art due to the high cost of living.
Didrickson said he sells his art mostly by local special order because it’s personalized and one-of-a-kind. He is currently working on a raven headdress that he will gift to the Yées Ḵu.oo local dance group for Celebration in June.
“I’d rather see something be used and be well cared for that has meaning than put it in a shop where it collects dust,” he said. “All of my stuff is wearable and tells a story. It’s not as fulfilling unless it is used for its intended purpose.”
Didrickson said he came to Project Homeless Connect to see what services were available for someone in his unique position, but like low-income housing, it was hard for him to qualify for some programs.
“It’s a lot more difficult now,” he said, adding he spent his teenage years unhoused in Juneau. “It’s never been like this. When I was growing up, you walk down the street and people would stop and say, ‘Hey, do you need a ride to go here?’ People knew each other.”
He said in Turkey, where he lived before moving back home, homelessness is not a large problem because everybody looks out for each other.
Near the close of last Tuesday’s event, organizers thanked community members, volunteers, and service providers for joining.
Jackson said St. Vincent’s is an entry point for many people in Juneau experiencing homelessness. She said the tribe, the Glory Hall, and St. Vincent’s have community navigators who can help.
“We really care about our homeless population, our vulnerable population, and we really want, at the end of the day, Dave (Ringle) and I hope that everyone finds a pathway, whether that’s housing, rehabilitation, or an opportunity at the job center,” Jackson said. “We’re just really hoping people find the care that they need.”
Toward the end of Project Homeless Connect, Walter Brown was waiting for a haircut. He said he has been staying at Housing First since October 2025. Before that, he was at the Glory Hall or on the streets. Brown said his friend Logan Henkins, who works at the Glory Hall shelter, supported him in accessing community resources.
“I didn’t have nothing when I came in — nothing. Everything I got was from the Glory Hall shelter, St. Vincent de Paul, and Tlingit and Haida, like clothing vouchers,” he said.
Brown said it had been about a year since his last haircut, and he was looking forward to it now that he has started a new job. He also got lunch at the event and browsed the clothing options.
But he had another reason for showing up last Tuesday.
“I was hoping to show some other people — because I’m 44 — that you can choose to live a life down there or choose to make a better life,” he said. “I chose to get clean and free from alcoholism.”
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.
