Anchorage wants to send its homeless to warmer climates. What could possibly go wrong? (Metlakatla: rental market, college)

[GotHereQuickAsICould]

Originally Posted by SkyLark2019

The average North American is two paychecks away from total disaster.

Don't judge the homeless so harshly.

There but by the grace of God.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by GotHereQuickAsICould

No, the plan is to provide airline tickets to those who don’t want to freeze to death this winter.

No, if that were actually true, these theoretical tickets would be restricted to destinations with mild winter temperatures. Bronson doesn't care if they go to Fargo or Honolulu; just as long as they're out of Anchorage, and trying to rationalize it in humanitarian terms doesn't fly with anyone even remotely familiar with his administration's homeless policy. Doesn't sound like you know anything about this mayor.

[GotHereQuickAsICould]

I know nothing about this mayor. Absolutely nothing.

But I am familiar with winter in Alaska, and I damn sure wouldn’t want to be huddled in a tent made out of the blue tarp.

[Metlakatla]

Maybe learn something about the current mayor's policies and attitudes and then get back to me about how this proposal is based in humanitarianism.

My point, again, is that Alaska should take care of its own instead of giving people the choice between freezing under a tarp and landing on the streets of wherever, USA where they know no one and often don't have the survival skills to make it for very long.

I've made it as clear as I can that I'm not talking about the occasional drifter; send them where they want to go and be done with it. But because a disproportionate number of Anchorage's homeless are from the villages and have rarely, if ever, set foot outside of Alaska's borders, I think the state needs to to do better by them than sending them "somewhere warm" and dressing it up as altruism.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by Arktikos

Hawaii sends them only if they have a place to land in another state. In other words, someone to take them in.

IMO, that's Hawaii trying to sound responsible, but reality is there's no way to confirm that someone is actually waiting to take these homeless people in. I'd wager that they don't exactly have a support system back on the mainland and will be homeless there as well.

And how exactly would Hawaii verify this? Realistically? I'd love to see the efforts that Hawaii is taking to actually verify that someone is claiming to be waiting on the mainland for the homeless that the state ships off the islands. Many of these homeless people don't actually want to live in a home (many have mental illnesses where they feel safer outside than in enclosed spaces, etc.). Even if, hypothetically, every ticketed homeless that Hawaii sends back to the mainland was linked with a loved one initially, I'd wager that they were back out on the streets soon enough.

[GotHereQuickAsICould]

I suspect every county in the country has a policy similar to that of Hawaii. Everyone needs a story of some sort to get the ticket.

But unless they are contacting local authorities to check out the truth of the story, it’s really anybody’s guess whether there are friends and relatives greeting the person at the airport.

And yes, even if there is a relative/friend, willing to help out, it is quite likely that the person will end up homeless again before long as the reasons they were homeless have not changed.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by prospectheightsresident

IMO, that's Hawaii trying to sound responsible, but reality is there's no way to confirm that someone is actually waiting to take these homeless people in. I'd wager that they don't exactly have a support system back on the mainland and will be homeless there as well.

And how exactly would Hawaii verify this? Realistically? I'd love to see the efforts that Hawaii is taking to actually verify that someone is claiming to be waiting on the mainland for the homeless that the state ships off the islands. Many of these homeless people don't actually want to live in a home (many have mental illnesses where they feel safer outside than in enclosed spaces, etc.). Even if, hypothetically, every ticketed homeless that Hawaii sends back to the mainland was linked with a loved one initially, I'd wager that they were back out on the streets soon enough.

I haven’t followed if the Hawaii legislature approved the plan earlier this year, but it would supposedly be similar to a private plan in place since 2015. Yes, they do verify, obviously, because family has to pay half the fare. Also, individuals get counseling as part of the process.

…”The relocation program was launched in 2015 to address homelessness in Waikiki, where the population is prominent, but it has expanded to the rest of Oahu as well as Maui and Kauai. Those who returned home are a mixture of visitors and people who willingly moved to start a new life in Hawaii.

The Institute for Human Services, which oversees the relocation program, allocated $20,000 to jumpstart it for the first two years while private donations have continued to fund it, according to executive director Connie Mitchell.

The program has paid for half of the airfare to send 599 homeless people from Oahu to the mainland while families pay for the rest…”

https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/11/ho...-the-mainland/

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by GotHereQuickAsICould

I suspect every county in the country has a policy similar to that of Hawaii. Everyone needs a story of some sort to get the ticket.

But unless they are contacting local authorities to check out the truth of the story, it’s really anybody’s guess whether there are friends and relatives greeting the person at the airport.

And yes, even if there is a relative/friend, willing to help out, it is quite likely that the person will end up homeless again before long as the reasons they were homeless have not changed.

Alaska and Hawaii are not similar to the rest of US due to their geography. Once the homeless leave a return is highly unlikely. Therefore, I believe it’s incumbent upon those responsible for relocating them to at least make an attempt at being responsible.
The reality is simply not equivalent to giving a Minnesotan a bus ticket to Wisconsin.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by GotHereQuickAsICould

I suspect every county in the country has a policy similar to that of Hawaii.

No. These programs are the exception rather than the rule, and where they do exist, they're typically administered on the municipal level rather than through individual counties.

[GotHereQuickAsICould]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

No. These programs are the exception rather than the rule, and where they do exist, they're typically administered on the municipal level rather than through individual counties.

I'm not sure where you are getting your information from. Do have a link by any chance?

In my experience, county social workers and programs funded by block grants through the county are the primary sources of arranging for tickets.

For example, the Salvation Army often has funds for travel expenses for those who have a reasonable destination, but no way to get there.