Anchorage mayor proposes sending homeless people to Los Angeles this winter

Mayor Dave Bronson says he wants to relocate unhoused people to warmer climates or where they have family. “I think a ticket this morning to Los Angeles is 286 bucks, it cost us $100 plus or minus a few dollars every day to house someone, and we don’t have a place to put them in a large shelter this winter,” he said. “But in reality, these ridiculous stunts just show the difference between leaders who confront crises by rolling up their sleeves to address issues and leaders who confront crises by rolling over to shift the problem.” Los Angeles county has 43,000 shelter beds for the roughly 75,000 people experiencing homelessness in the region, according to county data. Bronson also expressed reluctance to send people outside of the state but said he had “far less than optimal options” after state lawmakers rebuffed a $25-million request to fund a large shelter in Anchorage, which has 40% of the state’s population but 65% of its homeless people. “I think that a large shelter, intensively managed by professionals, would have been a far better idea and created a far better situation than what we have right now.” Anchorage recorded 1,760 people staying on the street and in overnight shelters in its 2023 point-in-time census, an increase over the 1,494 counted in 2022.