Legislative Council extends apartment rules to 16 donated Juneau units

The Legislative Council voted 8-0 on Wednesday to bring 16 donated two-bedroom apartments in Juneau under the same policy that governs the Legislature's 33 Assembly Building Apartments.

The new units, called the Gold-Sixth Apartments, are in two fourplexes and an eightplex at 700 Gold Street, 611 Gold Street and 611 Sixth Street. The buildings were owned by Develop Juneau, Inc. and transferred to the Juneau Community Foundation, which donated them to the Legislature. The council accepted the donation in June.

Legislative Affairs Agency Executive Director Jessica Geary told the council that renovations are underway and on schedule. The agency expects the units to be ready for the session that begins Jan. 19.

Rather than write a separate policy, the agency proposed in a memo to amend the existing one, adopted in 2023 and amended in 2024, so it covers both properties.

The apartments remain open to legislators and to legislative staff who are eligible for relocation expenses, with priority by seniority. The revised policy:

• moves the market value analysis behind rents from every year to every two years

• requires legislators who keep an apartment between sessions to give property management reasonable advance notice if they won't use it the next session, or risk losing future priority

• allows policy or lease violations to cost a tenant eligibility for future agency housing

At the Gold-Sixth Apartments, parking is first-come, first-served, and legislators there may keep their Capitol parking spaces.

The motion, made by Sen. Gary Stevens, lets the executive director set 2027 rents for the new units. Starting in 2028, those rents will follow the standard process. Applications for session housing run Oct. 1 through Nov. 15.