One of Alaska’s biggest health care provider biggest private funder, biggest private landlord, and biggest private health insured declare they are promising $40 million over five years to help Anchorage turn the nook on homelessness.
This is the most substantial private investment to address this critical issue in state history. The money can mean additional housing and different facilities for people and families.
Fresh methods that have created a distinction in different cities, such as accurate tracking and follow-up of everyone who is experiencing homelessness, are central to the effort.
We are in this together with our public and nonprofit partners, who already are running shelters, working with street youth and sending teams into homeless camps,” said Diane Kaplan, Rasmuson Foundation president, and CEO.
“We still need government dollars but on top of that, we can provide new funding streams to create a path out of homelessness for everyone. After a challenging summer, we now have a stable base of state funding for the coming year. These private investments wouldn’t be possible without it.”
Other key partners include the Municipality of Anchorage, which is committed to Anchored Home, Anchorage’s plan to address homelessness; the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, which has staff working to do just that every day; and the United Way of Anchorage, which is trying a new way of helping those who have been chronically homeless. Key funding partners have been Alaska Housing Finance Corp., the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Others who have invested dollars or time in new approaches include ConocoPhillips, Wells Fargo, Southcentral Foundation and Cook Inlet Housing Authority. All 12 Alaska Native regional corporations invested in Path to Independence, an Anchorage partnership which provides rent support, case management and help with landlord issues for participants.
The work will bring in new tools and build on existing resources that already save many lives, the shelters, meal programs and case management services run by nonprofits including Catholic Social Services, Bean’s Cafe and Covenant House.
“We square measure concerned as a result of we have a tendency to believe everybody deserves a secure place to measure that they will decide their own.
This non-public investment suggests that Anchorage is going to be ready to do quite it’s ever done to assist those in want. We already understand that even short-run facilitate of the proper kind makes a large distinction to keep folks housed,” said W. Dean Weidner, founder, and chairman of Weidner Apartment Homes.
This is a brand new funding partnership and brings the chance for others to affix. The Anchored Home plan will guide the work. Funding partners also will work with the Municipality and nonprofits to make sure investments target gaps in services. In this cooperative effort, key investments are going to be coordinated among the partners.
