Homeless numbers have remained roughly the same in Anchorage for the last few years and city officials say many people who have been homeless for a long time need addiction treatment or behavioral health care. Now a new muni-owned treatment center is getting some people that care, while housing them in their own individual microunits. The transitional living program is a new municipal approach to solving long-term homelessness in the city.
Summer Bond is in charge of getting people settled in at the addiction treatment program, called Willow Commons. On a sunny spring day in early April, just a week after the program launched, Bond showed off a roughly 100-square-foot home. It was the last empty unit, and Bond said someone was moving in the next day.
“You get a bed, towel, set, hygiene kit, a fridge, a microwave, and then it’s not in here yet, but we plan to add a TV,” she said…