HHAND Commission Monthly Meeting March 2025

Um, June, no, she's going to be joining us a little bit late.

I apologize, everybody.

We do that before. Sorry to keep everyone waiting. We'll get on time during the meeting.

Um, and Jen, I see that you are here. You weren't going to be able to make it. That appointment was canceled. Okay, great news. All right, I'm going ahead and call the meeting to order.

Again, apologies, um, for my tardiness and wasting everybody's time, um, but we'll go ahead and start out with the roll call. I'm Dave Brittenberg.

Commissioner. Am I right? My name is Laura Raines. I'm a commissioner. Richard Meistrom, commissioner.

Daniel Sager, commissioner. And then we'll go—.

Thank you, Dahl staff, for, for the hand commission. I see we're, we're just doing roll call, so I see David, it's really hard to understand you on the Teams for some reason. Like, when Laura spoke, it was clear, but for some reason where you're sitting is super garbled, so we can't really understand what you're saying.

Is this better? Yeah. Oh, it's still getting real garbled. Maybe it's Because maybe you need to stretch out those cords. It's just very garbled for some reason.

I can jiggle the cord. That's, that's the extent of my—. No, it's better when you, when you moved it away from those other things. I just think there's some interference that's making it really garbled. That's not the microphone.

It's on there.

Has nothing to do with that thing. Is this—.

No, it's okay, it's not really. But I'm Thea, I'm with the mayor's office. Nice to see you guys. Brown, mayor's office. I'm fine.

They can hear you better. You're there. I'm sorry.

So what I think I'm hearing is that we will probably need to work on the ability to have folks over Zoom because we are really, really pushing for people to participate in the HAN Commission, and a lot of those people are going to be interested in attending online versus in person. So Seeing that this is one of our technical areas that we'll need to work through, because if someone said something in the room, I didn't hear anything. The only person I can actually really hear very well is Frankie. That's fine. Okay.

How about now? Is that any better, Farina? That's much better. Thank you. We figured it out.

Kenny Peterson, community member. Thank you. Okay, just making sure because it doesn't sound like it's any better. Okay, that, that was better, David. There's something about where you're sitting that is kind of making it break up a lot, but when other people talk, it's— we can hear them.

You're saying it's me? Sorry, David, I think it's just where you're sitting. I'm gonna just scoot down to the other end of the table.

All good, Josh?

Want to just introduce yourself?

And we have Michelle Baker. Hi, Michelle. Hello. Great. And then Mr. Zhu, are you there?

You want to introduce yourself?

All right, I think he's a community member. Um, okay, so with that, we can go ahead and move on to approval of the order of business. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

Any discussion?

On the agenda, um, I would ask Alan, we have you on the agenda here for, uh, presentation on shadow setback, setback, the subarticle with your city, but the gave us is reconnecting Fairview. So touch—. They're connected. Everything's connected. All right, everything is good.

Okay, so I don't think we need to make an amendment to the agenda there. We do need a second for the motion we just had. Can we get—. Can we get a second? Okay, any other discussion?

Seeing and hearing none, go ahead and approve the agenda.

Um, and move on to approval of minutes. Thank you, Frankie, as always, doing such an amazing job with minutes. Take a— can I get a motion to approve minutes? I'll motion. And a second?

Sir, second. Give it a photo review.

Any discussion on the minutes?

Bill and what?

Going twice. Seeing and hearing none, minutes are approved. Um, moving on to item D, we do not have any action items. We can go on to informational items, and with that I will invite, um, our special assistants to the mayor, Thea and Farina, um, to give us your update. Thank you for being here.

And Thea, I can start and just do just a quick update on shelter and then pass it over to you for all of the meatier updates. I'm really excited to say that the concrete RFP was released on Friday and we will be soliciting, we are currently soliciting for a scatter site model And that represents a shift in the way that we have operated shelter through the municipality. So very excited to see that RFP on the street. Please share, share, like, let people know. The RFP allows for a bidder to solicit, to, to submit a solicitation in one of 3 buckets as a vendor.

As a vendor providing service with a location, location only, or as a vendor with location. We hope to really have a robust group of vendors that are bidding on this solicitation. This RFP is, is quite significantly different in that this shelter season— this RFP represents year-round shelter. We are looking at a scatter site model up to 3 locations, and the locations will have capacity, surge capacity, which is very different with a baseline of 200 individuals served, and during the winter months, the ability to flex up to 400. That is very different than what we've offered in the past, but what we are really trying to do is to make sure that we recognize the difference in people seeking shelter during the winter months and building that into our current capacity.

We will be releasing a non-congregate RFP later this month. What will be different about that? Not only just the timing in both of these RFPs moving forward, which gives us a significant amount of runway before winter hits, but we are only going to solicit for up to 100 non-congregate beds, and that is also a stark difference from what we've done in the past where we really added that capacity through using hotels and other locations. We are also adding a focus in our non-congregate on some of the individuals that are most vulnerable. We had a lot of lessons learned from this shelter season and understanding that we have a fairly large number of folks that come in that are fragile, and they really require an increase in time to connect them to other services.

And so this just allows us to really lean into that. Also, with the congregate RFP, we're really looking at a service-rich model. This is a bit of a paradigm change because in the past, we've really— we, the municipality, have leaned into the space of life, health, and safety. So services were ramped up to make sure that people didn't die during the winter, and then they ramped down. This is looking at the lens of year-round capacity is what are we doing for those individuals when they walk through the door, and that really requires increased touch points with connection, building relationship, understand that someone is just not immediately going to be ready, but embedding in the RFP and the expectation with a goal is that we are really linking individuals to services and moving them through the system.

So I'm excited to see what we have come through the door in these solicitations and just, you know, recognizing that it's a pivot. It's something every year I think we're going to do better and better based on the feedback that we receive, understanding the need, and then being able to pivot and work with our partners to accomplish that. So grateful for everyone that has provided service, that's constantly giving us feedback on where their implementation challenges And I'll pause here for questions.

Thank you, Corinna. You know, one thing I would just like to mention is I really appreciate the emphasis on a scattered site model. I think we've tried in Anchorage multiple times to try and see how many people can we get under one roof. And, you know, we've seen multiple iterations of that over the years. And, you know, my friend from Fairview here has experienced some of that as well.

So really appreciate moving towards the smaller scatter site model that's, you know, hopefully going to, you know, and as we have seen in other places, but, you know, hopefully this will lead to more manageable services and better outcomes and less, far less neighborhood impact. I did want to ask about, you know, for the RFP, it's putting a shelter in a location via RFP, maybe this isn't like a fully formed thought, but What kind of community engagement is expected or do you foresee happening about awarding a building owner or operator that, you know, talking with the community or the neighborhood that we have awarded this person that owns a building in your area a shelter contract because Previously, that has really been the rub about putting a shelter anywhere, and there has generally been a lot more community conversation about the location of a shelter before, before it's funded or before it's created. And this sort of seems like there's going to be a response to the RFP and it could potentially be awarded and then a shelter is going to show up, you know, wherever the address for that successful bidder is going to be operating. I'm just thinking about that, that could be challenging for the operator and challenging for that neighborhood as well. So I'm wondering if there's been thought or discussion about that and the whole like, oh no, now there's gonna be a shelter in my neighborhood and I've had no input.

I can take a stab at that, Farina. I think what I heard, because for some reason again when you talk this it's very crackly, but I heard, I think what I heard most of what you say is basically how are we prepared for NIMBY, And how are we going to kind of build those bridges for folks that say we don't want another shelter in our community?

Yeah, we expect that people are not gonna want a shelter. We understand that that has for many people a negative connotation and the idea of the scatter site model with a smaller, and I failed to say this, but it's in the RFP, a bidder can also identify a particular population so that we can really be very thoughtful about who we serve and just engaging and addressing the community that, on the one hand, we know that people have and need a place to go. We know that the mass shelter has proven to be incredibly ineffective in doing linkage and moving people. So how do we, through this model with a scatter site, say we are just not going to concentrate these set of services in one community? The idea is, is that we are looking very broadly across all of Anchorage, and there's not going to be one singular answer, one magic wand that's going to make one community feel more comfortable about it than the other.

But we will stand alongside the vendor and say that this is what we the MUNI support. Thea, I think you had started to speak. Yeah, I guess part of the— part of another aspect of this is different than what we've been doing is that these will be year-round shelters. So in the RFP, you'll read that whoever is proposing will need to enter into the licensing process. So that also requires that community engagement that you're speaking to.

And so, and of course, it also then requires that you're selecting sites that are within, that are zoned for this use. So, we're really relying on the processes that are already part of the municipality that are, you know, kind of governed or overseen by the Health Department and that many operators are already familiar with. But I think that new operators could also read those requirements, kind of check out that process, and hopefully that provides a level of guidance and engagement with the community that, that will help communities be welcoming. Because I think the reality is that we do have shelters in lots of different parts of our community, and many of them operate without that much disruption to the surrounding area. So I think that's you know, is what gives us confidence that this approach could work.

And, you know, with having multiple sites, some of them could be quite small. You could have one that operates 50 beds year-round and maybe has capacity to go to 75, you know, as a surge capacity. So that's, that's what we're asking bidders to tell us is kind of what would be your year-round kind of baseline, and then what could you add in order to help when we have an increase in need over certain times of the year. So we're trying to create a more flexible model, but that also fits in with existing processes like our licensing process, because that's another thing that's hard about the way we've been doing shelter is, you know, emergency shelter isn't subject to those processes because it's time-limited. So, and then the other thing that, um, Brina was talking about it being a service-rich environment, we're really looking to, um, operators who are experienced with delivering behavioral health services and other billable services that can help bring that revenue into the operations.

Because part of what we're facing, as you all know, is we really can't afford to continue doing the number of beds that we've been doing when the muni covers the whole cost. And we know that we want to do as much as we can to meet the need, and so So we really need operators to start bringing in billable revenue to help support some of those costs. So that's another thing that we'll be looking for in this current RFP and in the non-congregate one that's not out yet. Again, it'll be, you know, we're thinking around 100 beds, but we're curious to see what the pricing comes out at and that those would also be year-round. And again, 'cause they're serving high vulnerability folks, we would be excited to see bidders who could bring billable services to that operation.

Thank you.

And I put the link in the chat for those of you who are on Teams.

As the shelters, more and more shelter space comes on and there's more and more capacity available, does the city have a plan plan on how to deal with individuals that choose to not interact with the shelters?

I mean, we're pursuing the same strategy that we've been, you know, pursuing since the LaFrance administration came on, which is we're continuing to abate camps and do a lot of outreach. So, you know, our approach is really around outreach, engagement, abatement, you know, as resources allow and as Areas are prioritized according to our municipal process. And then what we're really trying to do is create the options that are inviting to people. So, for example, Farina hasn't talked yet about designated parking, but that's something we're trying to lift over the summer months so that if you're car camping, you can have a safe place to go. We're also interested in— We have a project trying to develop some micro units and use that type of kind of low barrier structure in order to also facilitate some recovery residences.

So we're trying to create different options. That's also the reason we wanna do these multiple sites with potentially serving specific populations. So we're just trying to decrease the barriers as much as we possibly can. And then we'll have to continue with abatement and cleaning in order to make public spaces welcoming for everybody. And I want to directly, you know, say this, that a lot of people don't support abatement.

You know, there's a lot of contention around that, that we are just displacing individuals. Um, I, I want to reiterate that it is not a matter of that we just want to displace folks.

An aspect of this that we can't ignore is that if there is a homeless encampment that's directly in front of your house and it's been there for 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, at what point have you hosted your unhoused neighbors and they're on public lands? Are they allowed to just be there because they choose not to engage in services or because there's just not enough shelter beds? And so we have to deal with that tension between understanding the experience of the person with lived experience, but also understanding the community and being able to respond to that to say that, you know, it is not just a matter of, well, it's only 20 people or it's only 5 people that we are going to abate. That has been the— some of the language that the administration has used when the Mayor was campaigning and when she came into office. That is something that is going to continue according to code and we are right now trying to really flood the system with rapid rehousing dollars so that we're creating that movement so that individuals that are currently in any of our shelter space that are high on the CE list can all get connected to housing services so that we've got that movement in the system.

But it would be unfair and unrealistic of me to say that there are individuals that don't want to be inside. There are individuals that just want to camp. They are not ready to take that next step for whatever reason. We will continue to work with our partners at the Coalition for Outreach, but we will continue to abate. They will continue to have those contacts that often people don't like to have.

That's why they choose to be outside. And we will try to have as much fairness, engagement, and respect for those individuals, but we also have to recognize that we just can't have camps all over Anchorage. We can't have our parks and our greenbelt spaces where we have the community ad nauseam saying that they feel unsafe going out into their, into their own parks, and so how do we balance that with ensuring that we are linking people who are ready to engage in that service, but also being as transparent and forthright for those other individuals that choose not to come inside, that we will continue to abate. And it's not the most satisfying answer, but it's, it's what the process is. It seems like one other just thing I want to add about abatement is that what, what we also see is that when camps stay in the same place for longer, they tend to become more and more unsafe.

So in terms of fire, in terms of violence, you know, we had somebody killed in Davis Park recently. In terms of other types of criminal activities such as drug dealing. So that's another reason why abatement is important because it gives this kind of intensive opportunity for people to like see some other options and potentially take them. So that's why we try and do that outreach and engagement every time that we're, we're planning an abatement so that there's this intensive effort to help people connect as that location where they've been staying is disrupted.

It does seem a bit like you're chasing your tail with abatement. And I know it's frustrating for everybody. You know, we had a camp in front of Dempsey Anderson for 6 months. That was abated a few weeks ago. Everybody moved 100 yards down the street.

Now they're sitting there between Northern Lights and Benson where there was a fire last summer in that spot. I think there was an explosion of some propane tanks. You know, there was a fire in front of Dempsey Anderson, but 2 fires I think last summer in front of Dempsey Anderson. So it seems like it's shuffling the problem around, and then you're gonna have to abate the same people kind of over and over again. I know that's a frustration for Parks and Rec, and it's a big expense too to go through that multiple times.

So I'm just wondering—. I want to address what you're saying. It technically isn't the same people. I think that's also a misconception. So we actually, before we abated Dempsey and there were, we got down to, we actually emptied out the camp.

We got everyone moved inside and we just didn't have the resources to get Healthy Spaces there to clean out all of the tents. And it wasn't an abatement. We had outreach that worked. I believe at that time there were 6 tents, which represented about 11 people. We were able to get all of those folks inside into either congregate and non-congregate we didn't have healthy spaces, just didn't have the bandwidth to get there and get the encampment cleaned up and get all the tents taken down and get all the trash out.

Two days later, we had people moving into the abandoned camp. So then we actually had to post abatement, which was a 10-day notice of abatement, and then we got everything cleaned out after that, but it wasn't the same people. And so I think that's also some parts of this kind of misconception is the way that people move around, that often we are getting people that are moving through, But it's really hard to articulate that to the public because all you see is that we abated and that it looked like it's the same 6 or 12 people that just moved across the street. We are moving 3 or 4, will go into our system, will get connected to services, and it is just a very hard story to share and to tell because what the community sees is, oh, they just moved across the street. So I want to acknowledge what you're saying is absolutely valid, but also the other side that we see, which makes again kind of the tension of what we do hard because we know that we can connect people to services, but the perception in the community is kind of this whack-a-mole.

And then the spot between—. I'm sorry, same time. Um, but yeah, okay. And we are tracking the spot that you're describing off of Lois between Northern Lights and Benson. You know, that is, is a state right-of-way, so we can't go in there and do that in the same way, or we need to work with them.

Um, so we are, we are tracking that, and, and APD is having those conversations. So we, we haven't lost side of that situation. We're still working through that space because that space was where the fire was last summer. And then I actually called Cal State right away last summer on that, spoke to a supervisor over there, and they said they wouldn't— they wouldn't do it without the city. So they need partnership with the city, they need to work with the community before, before they're willing to go into those spaces.

So you coordinate with them when you have an issue, want to run away, and work together to abate that or to Yeah, so we did that process along New Seward. So where New Seward and Tudor crosses, and then on the opposite side of the highway at 36. And there were a few other locations actually at that time along Benson and between Benson and Northern Lights closer to Latouche. So we did work with the state. That was a few months ago that all that work happened kind of at the beginning of winter.

And so that's, yeah, we need to kind of work through that same process with them again for that location you're talking about. Thanks, Steve. Let's just kind of shift, but what's the goal for how many beds we want to ramp up next winter?

We're trying to have 200 year-round congregate beds with the capacity to get up to 400 for the colder months of the year, and that's what we're kind of doing our funding estimates based on, and it really does depend what we get back from the bids. And then for the non-congregate, we have secured some state money that we think could give us about 100 non-congregate beds for the remainder of 2025 as we ramp down the ones we're paying for currently. But we're also trying to secure some additional funding for 2026. So, and again, depending on the cost of the bed, we could either, you know, do it for a longer period of time or more beds or less beds. So we kind of just see what we get with the RFPs.

And does that— that doesn't include solid waste services? We're just always sort of still transitioning out? Yeah, our goal is to ramp that down. Again, depending on the bids we get back, our goal is to bring on our new sites as we decompress 56th Avenue. So we're on a net loss of some bets next winter?

Um, well, we have a couple other projects. We're trying to kind of keep pretty similar to what we've had in the winter, um, with actually a few more in the summer. So we're— that's what we're shooting for. But again, it depends kind of what bids we get back and what the costs come in at. Thanks.

Thank you. Um, anything else? Anything else from commissioners or from Bryan? Yeah, I have one question. Then this might be, um, not on anyone's radar quite yet, but obviously we're anticipating kind of a bad potential, uh, fire year coming up.

Is there anyone talking about what that might look like with some of these camps, especially once people start going back outside?

I know some people that are pretty concerned, especially with Davis Park, but then the ones that pop up along the trails.

Yep, APD, right, or AFD, sorry, right now is working on a community wildfire prevention and mitigation plan. So, and they are working, actually we just heard a short presentation earlier today at the Public Health and Safety Committee meeting. They're working with federal partners and also with our Office of Emergency Management to really prepare for this fire season, both, you know, kind of the, you know, the parts of Anchorage that you might think of that interface with the Chugach, but also in, you know, areas that are wooded in town. So yeah, they're reporting out on that monthly at that committee meeting. Yep.

And I can tell you from a practical perspective, it is something that we talk about during our We kind of have a convening where we weekly talk about abatement, and that is something that has come up is really just understanding in previous years there was a fire out on Campbell Creek that burned in '19 and then another in 2022. So you will hear us talk more about what and how we'll be strategically looking at abatements in areas that have a higher fire danger. It's, you know, it's No surprise to anyone on this call, we just have a number of camps. People are frequently moving, but really ensuring that we're just kind of keeping the city safe and getting people from those deep wooded areas that, you know, if they spark and go up, um, becomes much harder to have an AFD response. So it's going to be our job to make sure that we're getting those abated as a priority throughout the spring and summer.

Thank you. Can, can I just make a couple, two other updates? So one, the Health Department right now is in the middle of negotiating to get a pretty big chunk of rental assistance money out to grantees and out on the street. So we should be getting the first batch of those to the Assembly on March 18th, and then, you know, as we get the other awards negotiated, they'll be coming soon after. So what we're hoping is that starting in April, we have quite a bit of rental assistance funding.

It's not very long-term, it only goes through the end of September, but we are really encouraging those group of grantees to focus on people who are either unsheltered or in emergency shelter to help them find housing instead of obviously just, you know, not having a place to go if their shelter bed is closing. So that's something the Health Department's been putting a lot of really great effort into, and we're excited to work with a group of grantees and kind of bring them together and help them coordinate with each other to really move folks out of shelter this spring. So that's actually $4.2 million that will kind of expire at the end of September, and then there's an additional $1.5 that will have a longer time frame. So that'll be both rental assistance plus services funding that's in the process of being awarded. Michelle?

Michelle, you're muted. Unmute yourself. Can you guys hear me? A little bit, very faintly. Okay, I will try to, um, um, are you aware of how many permanent supportive housing or, um, you know, temporary or permanent supportive housing are available and how much is needed to support individuals to get to that next from congregate shelters?

I mean, I think there's very few of our PSH beds that are available. So this is really more of that approach, more like what the veterans do, where it's helping people get into rental housing and then layering on the supports.

Does that answer the question, Michelle? Yeah, but I hope that South Central Foundation will be, you know, I hope these grantees will be in touch with you because I'm sure that you have services that would be beneficial.

Any other thoughts or questions on that?

One from the audience, sir? Yes.

Municipality, are they going to require a good neighbor agreement, you know, for these vendors, for the scattered type, you know, locations? Yeah, that's part of what— oh, sorry, go ahead. I would just say if they're subject to shelter licensing, then absolutely that would be part of the shelter licensing process to have a good neighbor agreement, you know, Anything else? Just very quickly, last announcement is that the Mayor's Office, the Housing and Homelessness Committee chairs, and the Coalition are teaming up to do a 2-day summit, Anchorage's Coordinated Response to Homelessness, and I'll put the link in the chat, but the first day is March 20th. That's a Thursday.

That's a Thursday. South Central Foundation is hosting this summit for 2 days at its NUKA Institute. And on the first day, it'll be probably more focused on providers. That really focuses on coordinated entry hosted mostly by the coalition. And then the second day is really the mayor's office and the assembly co-chairs and the coalition and a bunch of community partners.

So we're really encouraging people to come share their ideas. We're going to have a big World Cafe during the lunch period where we have lots of different providers creating the opportunity for people to engage with them and figure out how they can be part of the solution. So I'll put the link in the chat, and it would be wonderful to see you all there. And I think, David, you're— you want to speak to what— aren't you representing the Hand Commission there? The Hand Commission will be hosting a table at World Cafe about how they engage people, uh, in the public process.

And I would, uh, invite other commissioners to join me, um, at that event so I'm not there all by my lonesome. So, um, yeah, information in the chat. And I saw, um, Eric also had a lot of questions.

Yeah, yeah, I think— I mean, I'll ask a question, you can ask a question. Um, so we're winding down the winter, during which Congregate, non-congregate, and warming centers were at capacity pretty much every night all winter, which is another way of saying the system wasn't at sufficient scale to meet the demand in the community. Do we have an estimate of what a system that was big enough to meet the demand of the community would have been? How many beds were missing this winter to help inform plans for next winter? That's a good question.

I think that's something that looking at community data, you know, we have this kind of on our list in December. We had 475 folks that were reported to be unsheltered. So I think I think there is definitely recognition that the system that was in place this winter doesn't quite meet the need, and the goal is to get everybody inside. I think it's also a question of the number of shelter beds that would be ideal and the amount of resources that are there to support that. But I think as a member of ABLAC, you know, coming here and advocating for a system that accounts for everybody, you know, is something that we can absolutely put on record as a want and a need from people that are participating.

So thank you.

Uh, all right, I, I also just want to recognize we have 2 presentations and we are at 4. We have 40 minutes left, so I'll leave it to the guy that showed up late to keep us on time. Um, but wanted to move on to Jed, a quick update on community safety and development and ongoing request for proposals. Okay, yeah, um, I can give a quick update. You covered some of this.

Can you hear me okay, or should you move closer?

Probably closer, but not too close. Not too close. Okay, I'm going to try to curse the chair here. Can we go with that? Uh, no, for now.

Sorry, were you asking us if we were done? I was asking if you could hear me, but maybe apparently not.

Yeah, I think it's when someone's right there, it's really broken up, but it's, it's much easier to hear you when you're down the table. Okay, we'll try down the table. Okay, how's that? Better. Okay, um, so yeah, I'm Jed Gerlach, um, new systems program manager for NHL Department.

Um, we have, uh, 3 different, um, press grant proposals in various stages, um, that I can give updates on. Actually moving quite quickly along with a bunch of these, all of them really. Um, first one is the housing acquisition one that we put out back in the fall. Um, that one, uh, we selected 2 recommended proposals, um, the Cook Inlet Baxter housing acquisition and the that would be added to the Restore relocation. The Cook Inlet project, and so the assembly on March 18th will be hearing and hopefully approving the substantial amendments that reallocate that funding and the agreement for Cook Inlet for Baxter acquisition.

So that would be on the second year and be able to actually give that money out to people to acquire that parcel. The Habitat for Humanity project, we don't yet have the final agreement for Habitat, so we're still in negotiation phase for that. But yeah, we're moving close, very close to completion. They got put onto the— laid on the table yesterday at the Senate meeting. Thank you, Lydia, for helping getting that done.

And they set it through your account. So that's moving forward. Additionally, the supportive services RFP, we are moving very quickly to allocate both Home ARP funding and the Emergency Rental Assistance funding that Pia mentioned through that process, and we have gotten to a final agreement with a couple of those grantees and we're working on getting more rules tomorrow so that we can get, um, those also onto the Marching Team assembly agenda so that those can be approved and we can start rolling out rental assistance in April. Um, that's the rental assistance that is only good through September, so we really need to get going quickly. It's a big chunk of money that has to spend fast, and so that's been a major focus this week and last week in getting those Um, so we are moving forward with that.

And then we have a third request for grant proposals that is active now that went out last week. Um, it's due, uh, March 27th. We had a pre-proposal conference today over the purchasing department for that. And this is to allocate capital funding for the 2025 Community Development Block Grant, uh, entitlement grant. Um, it's very exciting because it's the first time in quite a few years is that we are on track to get our HUD money allocated within the same calendar year that it is being awarded.

Um, we almost made last year that appointment, um, but, um, this, this is getting on a new time frame where we will have requests for grant proposals in advance of doing our action plan each year so that we can have specific projects identified and approved by HUD, um, and roll them out without having to do amendments to actually access. So, um, we are, we are expecting to get about $800,000 in capital projects through CDBG this year. They haven't made the actual allocations yet, so that's not exact, that's just an estimate, but we are soliciting applications. So if people have applications for housing or shelter, um, is what we're focusing on there. CDBG can do construction if you new housing.

So the housing side of that would probably be either acquisition of land or buildings for conversion to housing, or possibly some kind of renovations or hotel conversion or something like that. Or shelter construction or renovation, something like that. The focus here is on increasing the supply of housing units and/or shelter beds on a permanent basis. So that's, that's what that is. Deadline is March 27th, so if you have ideas of, you know, people or projects that might be interested in receiving some funding, go ahead and apply.

This is now online. The person department has a new BidExpress system. BidExpress is the name of the platform, and then we have an account on there as a municipality. And so this is for the first time an actual online system that you can use to apply. Why you are there.

I'm sure many of you have experience with my grant programs will be able to help. So anyway, you can find that on the Perkins website. We have a link to BID Express there. So yeah, those are my updates. Any quick questions?

Where's the Habitat Restore? They are moving their Restore from its current location in the Highway Mall to, uh, it was going to be, uh, Speedy Glass building, although apparently that, that, um, is maybe a bump through that sales. So they are going to be looking for other locations, but basically the idea is that they're going to acquire a building they own, so they wouldn't have to pay commercial rents for the restaurant. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Not yet, no. They had kind of a tentative agreement with the Speedy Glass building It sounds like they've decided that after looking more closely, that's probably smaller location.

Yeah, it is a lot— would be a lot smaller. Next thing on the agenda, Jessica Parks is in Juneau, so okay with Mr. Sheet gives printout. I just ask commissioners to look at that for questions. Um, we do have— before we get into presentations, I just want to do a quick time check question. Is there anybody here who's for, um, public comment?

Want to make sure we have time for that at the end if anyone is here for public comment.

Okay, Alan, about how much time do you need for your presentation? How much time do I have? We have 32 minutes, a little bit. Stay like— how much time do you need for your presentation? Um, just a few minutes.

Okay, Alan, 20 minutes. Fantastic.

Okay, um, so good everybody? Yeah, so, and I see we are being joined by another individual. Shemay Williams. Yes. How are you?

Good to see you. Um, turn over to Alan Kaplan, uh, very good rabbi rather.

So thank you very much, uh, members of the planning commission for granting me time to come and make this presentation. And the, um, so, uh, initially my vision was about, you know, interested in here to talk about shadows, you know, add density and shadows. You want to have affordable housing, you have increased density, right? And it will make you cough out. And then increased density is also going to produce additional traffic, right?

And that's—. Traffic is a, you know, a negative externality for, you know, someone else. So that's what the thing I wanted to talk about. One of the things I wanted to talk about was it was always to be a fair view of it. And so, uh, speaking of the ferryboat, we're working hard, um, to do a good job.

Could you advance the slide? So this was the original ferryboat. This is back in the early '60s. You can see that, um, that's Gamble Street, and then in the right lower, uh, white line is 15th Avenue. And so you can see it, it was a cohesive place, right?

And Campbell Street was the main street, you know, you know, from, you know, you had East Ferry, you had West Ferry, and connected by Campbell Street as the main street. And it was, you know, so the neighborhood had, you know, Campbell Street, you had 8th Avenue, you had, you know, Fairview, you know, Alaska. So there's always been a strong sense of neighborhood identity. Next slide, please. This changed in 1965.

The Anchorage Fire Agency put it explicitly pointed out, you know, that when they put in the Cutlet, it was going to do some serious damage, and it was acknowledged, you know, and in fact, that's exactly what happened. So when they convert— when they put in that— took a residential street, which was Avery Street, and converted into a, you know, a main arterial, you know, they created this wasteland, you know, 2 blocks by, you know, at least 10 blocks long. So next slide, please. So we've tried over the years through various efforts and initiatives to kind of, you know, improve, you know, corridors to make it better. You know, one of those was that we put in, uh, where, uh, play some of the plays, you know, I think, you know, back in 2014, put in this Back to the Center, you know, proposed, you know, we put that in place, it was passed, it's still, um, active, uh, but we haven't seen it, um, uh, happen, uh, but we're really not really taken advantage of it.

And we still burdened by that legacy of the road, the couplet that's in there. And the couplet and DOT and what they've done is they created this sort of a great deal of uncertainty for what's DOT going to do along the corridor. And what we've been working on is— next slide, please. Is building a new vision and you have in your packet, you know, an example kind of summary, you know, about the reconnective care you're hoping to be doing. I think that's important.

But one of the key things, you know, that's relevant to the agenda item is that it's reversing these old timelines, right? And so I think this is important, and this is something that we did not really have a sense Now we're going to have you come down to the end of the table where people can actually hear. Sorry.

Okay, okay. One of the things that we put into our, you know, proposal— this is a nationally competitive, you know, grant. We You got it. You know, where's your finalization about, you know, Winter City Design Guidelines? And, you know, Winter City Design Guidelines, what is that?

This is something we don't recognize. Next slide, please.

So this is what— what, what was a Circle for America, right? It's the—. And the Circle for America is a nonprofit that you have including the arid and the subarid regions. Next slide, please. Another great quote, you know, from this Finnish hero back in 1946, "That winter is the true season of the world.

Spring is only a promise that something great is about to happen. Summer is an illusion." An illusion, but people during some hot days or weeks that the words believe be true. Following is that it is the dark rain that promises of the spring, and the illusions of the summer, but winter is something that really exists. Winter never deceives, it always comes back. So, and it, it is, the feeling is, is a word because you're at a sea.

How's anything gonna better if we're right about the same latitude?

—So we are— next slide please— so I mean, we have to recognize that because this is something that we're different, right? So we're right at 61.2 degrees north latitude, right? It means that we have to learn with the presence of, you know, really, you know, balinese shadows, like darkness, right? It's not like the clouds shadows of the Mount of Moriah. But these are, you know, and shadows have an influence, they have an effect on people.

And next slide, please.

So why do we have such extreme shadows, right? Well, Earth has a tilt, right, as it rotates, so it's not a straight top, right? It's tilted at 23.5° as it circles the sun. So that extremes of light, that's when we have Earth is towards the Sun, that's the summer solstice, right? That's when we— everybody loves the summer here, sunshine, amazing, wonderful things you can do.

But we also have the other side, the extremes of dark, where the Earth is tilted away from the Sun. Next slide, please.

So that's what this is doing, this curve you are following. It's a natural part of life, between the light and the dark. And, you know, this relationship between that, between light and dark with the shadow, is, you know, it's a core aspect of psychotic living. Next slide. Next slide, please.

So, chill spaces, they have an important impact on the quality of life for women who are living in a subarctic location, right? Chill space has low ambient temperatures in areas where the sun is influenced, and chill space must be balanced with white space. Next slide, please.

So the design issue— so the future of the anchored boat, it's increased urban density, right? That means taller buildings, greater mass, wider sidewalk print, and such development blocks the sun and creates more intense shadow spaces. And without mitigation, the shadows will be deep, will probably, you know, cause a person to feel a sense of unease and degrade a person's You know, next slide please. When I say degraded personhood, what am I talking about, right? Seasonal affective disorder, right?

This is real, right? It can, it can adversely, you know, impact a person. It's also referred to as Kalamu, Kalamu fever, you know, and it peaks in February, you know, of each winter. And, you know, these character— 8%, I believe this is anger-specific 3% of our general population, you know, is specifically affected by the darkness, by the loss of the light, right? So we're talking about a population of 280,000 people, right?

So that's only what, you know, 25,000 people, right, you know, that are significantly, you know, impacted. So when people are significantly impacted, what happens? They get depressed, right? They lose their creativity, right? You know, our vibrancy, our excitement, you know, our interest in engaging, you know, what's going on around us drops.

So, so it's really important to be addressing this. So how can we address this? You have to deal with the shadow spaces. Right? You have to accept that they have an impact on who we are as people of the far north.

Right? And we have some solutions that we can take to this. Right? We can have— we can go in and we say, "Well, listen, let's have translucent buildings." Right? They can incorporate designs that will allow for more of that natural sunlight to come through, particularly in the critical spots on our on a site, right, that where there's solar space, we want a sun pocket, right, that we want people to gather, right, we want to protect that because that's gathering in those solar spaces, that's what builds, that's what builds society, right, that's how people come together and they converse, they build community, right, and that's what we wanted to do, we want to build that sense of community for our whole incomes.

Next slide, please.

You know, same thing as color, right? Color can be used in a strategic way to back up shadow speak, right? And there's all sorts of things, you know, color, you know, when you're feeling wounded, right? When you're in agreement with envy, right? When you see red, our language and words and You know, they reflect our relationship with the color.

And it's a power thing. But if you look at our city, if you look at our neighborhoods, does our urban spaces, do they reflect vibrancy? What do they reflect?

Right? We look at things that are grayish. A lot of grayish. Right? We even— you know, and that creates gray people.

And that's not the type of thing— if somebody is struggling with some of the challenges of life, if your physical environment is dominated by greatness, it makes it incredibly— it makes it much more difficult for that person to lift themselves up, take advantage of the services, and to move up to a larger self-sufficiency. This is the reason I'm bringing this up. But this is related to our homeless situation, right? When people, when people drop down into that level, they're impacted by their natural environment. If the natural environment is not conducive for them to be lifted up, they're more likely to stay down, right?

So it's important for us to be thinking about how do we create more livable, more vibrant, you know, winter scenes. Next slide, please. So, I want to go around that and go looking at things from a bigger view approach, right? So Anchorage— what, what the hippo says— Anchorage is the only, the only, the only major metropolitan on the North American continent located in the subarctic and circumpolar north region of Earth. We're the only one, right?

That means So that means that we're unique, right? We have a unique set of circumstances, and so we don't recognize that. We don't accept that, the fact that we are unique, right? Our location. So what we want to do is acknowledge that uniqueness, right?

For that approach, you know, for that reason, you know, very new approach, the form-based code, you know, regulating language development. And with the border city, you know, design guidelines, you know, dealing with the, you know, explicitly the shadows, you know, and density as it occurs. Let's do it in a creative way, right, where it adds to the vibrancy of our life. Now, next slide, please.

So, place that we look to begin, you know, revitalization, the Global Gateway border, right. This provides a test bed for a new type of urban design new approach, right? And, you know, with that, we're moving forward, we're seeing design guidelines, you know, coming out, advancing innovation area in design, right? We're trying to create an innovation ecosystem and with, you know, community fabrication lab, with the STEAM emphasis at the school, and everyone, you know, promoting the arena district, you know, around the Solar Arena and the sports complex down there, you know, and Campbell Street eventually before we transform that back into what it was originally, which is our Main Street. But then another one of the key projects, they were a little too hesitant.

That base that jump-started it all disappeared in the Greenway, right? As a councilor, I voted, you know, 8,000 of us were voting, you know, on the Hyder Street, that 2-block, 2-block wide, 2-block long, you know, you know It got its own, right? What we want to do is we need something to fix it up, to make it, to turn it around. So what we do, we got 20 miles of Coastal Trail on the west, you got Chester Creek Greenbelt on the south, you got Ship Creek Greenbelt on the north, and all over housing you know, it's a very angry way along Hyder Street on the east to connect it all, right? To make a loop, a bike pedestrian beltway around the urban core.

It brings, it brings urban core, you know, together, right? And, and there's other investments, you know, that will revitalize, you know, you know, this neighborhood that's really been subjected to a whole institutional bias for decades, and it's way past time to fix it. Next slide. So, the intervention— uh, working you guys through what went wrong. What you can do is— first off, is include— include Native Americans in the project, right?

Housing and homelessness are important issues, right? Neighborhood development is also important. And this is what this commission, that NDE part of this commission is all about, neighborhood development. And if you— I really hope that the commission members, you know, the country could see that and then request that staff, you know, include that type of language you know, in the Consolidated Plan and start to move, you know, start to transition, right, to, you know, thinking more about how do we create more vibrant neighborhoods? How do we revitalize these areas, particularly low-income, you know, people, right?

And yeah, so what we're back, you know, as we move forward was, you know, our efforts to create You put back the dock, right? You know, any more, you know, any vibrancy, you know, into the area, into the East Downtown, you know, at the park, it could hurt our community. You know, we need to have— we need to build support. We need to be able to document that, you know, municipal organizations, municipal commissions, they say, hey, this is a good idea, we support this. Thank you, Commission.

Mission statements, right? You try to touch with your organization. Very important. It's important for you guys to understand what we're trying to do and how we can build a more livable, a more diverse, you know, and unique Somali community together. Because I think, I think we can get there, but we need your support.

And also, as individuals, I hope you guys can participate in our process. So we're getting started for the rest of this year and into, you know, 2026. We're going to be having a series of, you know, workshops and talking about a lot of the issues and the challenges that are related in one one way or the other to what this Commission deals with on a regular basis. So I think you all, by participating, bringing your own voices and participating in our process, you can help strengthen the product that comes out. And so I'm just making a pitch, and that's my spiel.

So next slide.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] In order for us to move forward, before we're going through the legacy of the past, we have to create— we have to rewrite the narrative. We have to create a new narrative, a new sense of what this part of town is going to be, and that's what we're That's what we want to do, right? And we want to do it, you know, you know, dealing— pushing back the dark, get rid of the shadows. We're going to accept the density because, you know, urban core density is going to come, but let's do it in a thoughtful way, strategic way that acknowledges the reality of where we are at, at 61.2 degrees north latitude on this planet. And let's create a— let's create a city that we can be proud of that sparkles.

Anyway, that's one. I'm advocating for sparkling. Increase sparkling. So anyway, so that's it. And I didn't take that long, I don't think.

So— 18. Yeah, you crushed it. Yeah. Okay, you guys have any— a little bit of time for questions. The Winter City design guidelines, is that like a one single thing, or does each city that adopts that, they kind of like, fix for their specific location?

Each city does it all a little bit differently because they have, you know, different characteristics. If you look at, like, Edmonton in Canada, Calgary, you know, very, uh, sort of northern sort of prairies, and it's really intense cold. And so we have lots of vans heading, you know, vans. So their characteristics and their design attributes are unique to the challenges that they face. And that also has a level of moral latitude, right?

So, um, it also— ours is going to be different, ours is going to be crafted, it'll reflect our own particular set of unique circumstances. And we'll also look at partners and the shadows and the— this is an important issue that we're going to wrestle with. How can we, uh, how do we create a vibrant city all year round, right? And it's just not housing, providing shelter for housing, right? It's taking a long time for people to realize, hey, let's have a plan on year-round housing, right?

Instead of just thinking about, oh, for episodic, right? And no, you got to think about the entire year. Right? And how do we— you want to have a good system, a good approach to dealing with the challenges that we face. That has to be looking at both the summer months but also the dark months and bringing together as a whole.

That's what the idea of the University Design Guidelines are. That's what we hope to do is make our winters as interesting, as enjoyable, and as vibrant as our summers.

Alan, thank you. We hope, um, you stay engaged, and if there is an opportunity for the Hand Commission to weigh in on something specific, um, please let us know. I will, I will. And, you know, the Hand Commission, I just want to reiterate This is an opportunity for you guys to do something with your communities, right? Participate in something that really builds a new, a positive place within our community.

Take a part of one of our communities that, you know, always thought of as a bad place, right? And turn it around, you know, and make it, make it a neighborhood of choice. That's what you guys can do. Hope you guys are up for it.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] All right, um, Taylor, thank you for hanging in with us. Um, so we have, uh, Layla Taylor with the, um, Denver Health Department, um, new to the health Health Department relatively, maybe a month, month and a half or so. Tomorrow is 2 months. And Housing Services Division Manager. Yes.

And I believe you're here to sort of talk a little bit about some of the work the Health Department has been doing more specifically with ECWS. So Marina and Thea are kind of seeing it from a very high level, you know, more 10,000-foot, and you're kind of more closer to the ground. I will apologize now, this is as much voice as I've got left, but it's substantially more than I had a week ago, so I'll take it. So for the updates that I had, Ian Fredo went over the bulk of them. The only thing I would add is that the Health Outreach Services team has put in place, it can work great for working on policies and procedures, but it is the team that also Catholic Social Services, MASH, and Kenny, because while we can think something is a grand idea on paper and say, "Yeah, that's fabulous," but then you go to implement it and discover it was just a bad idea.

This is not working. And so part of trying to get ahead of that is working with the people there kind of like the forefront for delivering the services to our unhoused population. Because while the team goes out and does things, they're not having that as much direct interaction as the staff that they're coming in and the new community shows us. So we're hoping to make some improvements to the kind of policies and procedures we have, but also be able to improve them as we move forward with our new about the policies and procedures as those come out. Um, Virginia, some of the things like transportation and entering in data and things like that.

So it's a way to make sure that everybody's kind of working together and it's not just one person saying, here's what we want you to do, and not gathering feedback because that does not work. Yeah, just a quick If I may, I'm going to just educate commissioners here a little bit. You know, when the RFP goes out, there's a contract that says you need to do all of these things, right? And then in that contract, it also references municipal congregate and non-congregate shelter policies and procedures that were created. And this is an opportunity for the Health Department to work closely with people that are executing those policies and procedures and refine those.

And it's been, you know, it's a— as you sort of truth test something that may have seemed like a good idea when it was being put on paper, but when it's rolled out into an environment, you know, these policies and procedures may have been written in the context of the Sullivan arena, and that may not translate well to East 56th or to one of the congregated shelters or the non-congregated shelters. I'm not sure exactly what they're on. So, you know, I really appreciate the Health Department's commitment to sort of that continuous quality improvement of the policies and procedures and making sure that they are, they're making sense. So it's been a really good example of collaboration and drawing on the subject matter experts that we have. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] We are happy to put it all together, but as David said, we are not the experts in everything, so it makes the most sense for us to work with the people who are on the, on the ground in the facilities doing the hands-on piece.

So the only other couple things I have is Hot meals are happening. One hot meal a day is happening at both the congregate and the non-congregate shelters. So at least once every, every guest in there is getting a hot meal a day. They obviously have the option to say no thanks, but from what I've heard and all the feedback I've gotten, that piece is working. We've also gotten a lot of really positive feedback on the third-party oversight that happens with Um, Kathleen and Molly going in and doing the town hall meetings and getting some radical feedback from the guests staying in the facility, just that it's not— they're not having to— they're able to tell what's going on, what's not going on, somebody who doesn't work for the municipality, who doesn't work for the shelter itself.

So it's there that unbiased report. We could, for a future meeting, we can look at inviting them.

Um, the last update I have is that there's a It's also been referred to as a professional services agreement, and it's a form that any community agency can complete and submit to be able to go in and provide services within one of the shelter locations. So for example, if they'd be able to go in and work with any veterans who happen to be in the shelter to get them set up on benefits or start that process, they would fill out that form, submit it, the Partners in Contracts team that meets with them, make sure all of the technical paperwork is in place, and then they can set that up directly with the shelters themselves to come in and provide the service. I think we've only had one come in thus far on the Covenant House, but one is relatively new, it's only been out for about a week and a half, 2 weeks.

All the other updates I have for you in Spanish, which my voice is very grateful for. Um, by Covenant House, do you mean their, uh, the crisis shelter? Um, it did not specify. It just said Covenant House. So, um, one of my team members was reaching out to them to figure out which section of Covenant House.

Yeah, they just Other questions?

I have a comment, really. I did read in the paper when they did the audit— I don't know if it was the audit or the third party came in and noticed that there were bed bug issues in Long Beach. One thing I can tell you is that it's a challenge in my buildings with bed bugs. Are a challenge. I mean, people bring them in and they're—.

It's— they're a hard thing to get rid of. And by the time you notice that they're there, they're everywhere. And it's a challenge. So it's— I mean, and everybody wants to blame the building or the operator, but it's not, you know, it's not us bringing them in. And it's a challenge to get rid of them once they are there.

And then people leave and they're not true, they don't properly take care of their things, you know. So it's, it's going to be a challenge. Every shop should be run through all the battles. It's definitely not an easy task. And coming from Safe Harbor facility in Arizona, that was a daily battle that I had with both of those buildings.

Only 25 years ago when I started in apartments We didn't have cockroaches, we didn't have bed bugs. Now we got both. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Well, thank you very much for being here. You'll be at future meetings as well, and so do you want to leave this as a standing or every other month? We can chat about that offline, but We have any more here for general public comments?

Anybody, anybody, anybody? Okay, um, I'll move on. I just have a couple of quick commissioner comments. Reminder about the work session on the 17th for the, um, annual, uh, annual report. Um, please someone join me for the World Cafe So I'm not sitting there all by myself.

That is the 21st. 21St? Yeah, so Friday. That Friday. I'll send out more specific information.

And then same with choosing a room, signed up, choosing a room signed up, is the timeline available so there's a chance I'll be there? That would be wonderful. What time is it? I will send some of that stuff out in an email. I don't have it off the top of my head.

I don't know if it's been announced. I don't know that there's like an itinerary for the day out yet. Yeah, as that comes out, I'll, I'll push that information out to you, uh, Commissioner. But would love company. Um, that's all I have for general Commissioner comments.

Anything from anybody else?

No. Michelle, anything from you online? Not here in person. Okay, I will appreciate you being here, um, you know, virtual anyway. I don't think we have any reports, so with that I would entertain a motion to adjourn.

Salute. Second. Uh, second. We are adjourned. Thank you everybody.

Thanks everyone.