Anchorage Assembly to consider $2.2 million more for surge beds at two homeless shelters

The Anchorage Assembly will consider raising the spending limits on two shelter contracts by about $2.2 million on Oct. 6, to cover extra beds opened last winter and again this fall. Both amendments are on the Assembly's consent agenda.

The contracts are with MASH Property Management, which runs Linda's Place, and Henning Inc., which runs the E. 56th Avenue Shelter, according to municipal oversight reports. MASH's spending ceiling would rise $1.13 million, to $6.6 million, and Henning's would rise $1.04 million, to nearly $6 million. The Anchorage Health Department says the money covers raising each shelter's capacity from 100 to 150 people from Jan. 1 to April 30 and again from Sept. 14 to Dec. 31. Oversight reports recorded 200 beds at E. 56th and 150 at Linda's Place during parts of last winter. By late August, each held 100.

The money hasn't been appropriated yet. Both memos say the funding depends on a separate resolution on the same agenda, AR 2026-262, which would spend $2.8 million in state Community Assistance Program money, including $1,355,804 for shelter operations and winter surge capacity. The documents don't say how that figure fits with the roughly $2.2 million in contract increases. That resolution is a public hearing continued from Sept. 15, so residents can testify. Phone testimony requires signing up at muni.org/testimony by 5 pm the day before.

Both contracts have grown since the Assembly approved them July 29, 2025. Henning's began at about $1.05 million, and this would be its fifth amendment. The administration waived the city's purchasing code before two smaller increases in December 2025, and the Assembly approved a $500,000 increase in July. MASH's contract began at $1.37 million, and this would be its third amendment. Its second added $228,420 for a surge in late October 2025.