A state windfall would restore shelter capacity Anchorage cut this year

Anchorage cut $1 million in homeless shelter surge capacity this year when alcohol-tax revenue came up short. A larger-than-expected state payment would now let the city put it back.

Under a resolution the Assembly took up this month, Anchorage would restore that $1 million and add about $1.36 million more to run shelters through the end of the year. The money comes from a state payment to municipalities that landed higher than the city had budgeted, about $2.8 million more than expected once the state finished its own budget.

The rest of that windfall, roughly $458,000, would set up an electronic health records system for the Health Department.

The size of the state payment is unpredictable, which is part of why the shelter money had to be cut in the first place. A mayor's office official told the Assembly in May that Anchorage's share swings widely from year to year: "sometimes up around $5 million, sometimes $4 million, sometimes in the few hundred thousand dollar range."

The need has not eased. This year's Point-in-Time Count, the annual tally of people sleeping outside, found 291, down 28 percent from last year, but municipal shelters were at full capacity. The administration has estimated the city needs 100 more year-round shelter beds, at $2.45 million a year.

The Assembly takes public testimony Sept. 15.