Author Topic: homeless in Anchorage,AK (Read 1423 times)

pastorp · « **on:** July 11, 2009, 09:17:42 AM »

According to the Anchorage daily news this morning there are 3,000 homeless in anchorage. 7 have died reciently in the illlegal camps around town. The shelters are all full, and freeze-up is 120 days away.

I knew there were many homeless in anchorage, I see them when I visit my daughters there, but had no idea it was that bad.

I wonder what it's like in other areas of our nation?

Regards,

Sourdough · « **Reply #1 on:** July 11, 2009, 10:15:13 AM »

pastorp: Most are either strung out on drugs, or mentally disabled. A few are unfortunates that have lost everything due to job loss of financial ruin. They will make a come back, and take care of themselves. As for the mentally disadvantaged, Anchorage needs to come up with something to help them. As for the Drug users, let mother nature clean the gene pool.

Before you say anything about me being harsh towards the drug users, that I don't really know them. Yes I do! My own son was one of them a few years back.

Kirk started using drugs and I kicked him out. For two years he used and lived on the street. It almost killed me, but I refused to give him money or help of any kind knowing he would only use it for more drugs. One day in March I got a call from a woman, said she was talking to a young man that was naked and crying. She said she had just left McDonalds in Spanard and saw him this young man hugging a transformer for warmth. She was going to call the police, but he asker her to call me. She described my son Kirk, and asked if I could come and get him off the street.

I went to the Spanard McDonalds and he came running out of the bushes. Kirk hid down in the floor of my truck. He told me how his friends had stolen his clothes to sell for more drugs. Some friends. Anyway that is what it took to turn my son around, being totally naked with no where to go. Rock bottom. When he got into my truck I told him, "If you are ready to change I'll help you. if not get out". Today he is an E-7 in the Navy, with two girls, and a newborn baby boy. Kirk also has an adopted 14 year old boy that he took off the streets himself when the boy was 11. The boys parents were drug users.

teamnelson · « **Reply #2 on:** July 11, 2009, 10:36:03 AM »

Homelessness is up in Hawaii too, which here can mean 3 generations under a tarp. Police routinely move them to the western shore where tourists can't see them. But with hotels at only 60% occupancy and unemployment in the teens and climbing, and state budget shortfalls about to put even more out of work, and Japanese tourism down for fear of h1n1 ... I can see homelessness skyrocketing.

billy_56081 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 11, 2009, 10:46:11 AM »

TN I have often said that if I were going to be homeless it would be in Hawaii. I'd save my last dollars and get me a one way ticket to Hawaii.

teamnelson · « **Reply #4 on:** July 11, 2009, 11:59:31 AM »

We've got working homeless here. They take the bus to work and can't afford housing. I pay 3k a month for a 1200 sq ft duplex. I run on the city path through some parks and the tent communities are growing daily, but if you like chicken, fish, avacado, mangoes you can get all those in the park.

powderman · « **Reply #5 on:** July 11, 2009, 05:43:52 PM »

Contrary to popular belief, not all homeless are derelicts, drunks, or dopers. There are entire families that are homeless, it can happen to anyone. POWDERMAN.

Dand · « **Reply #6 on:** July 11, 2009, 10:59:31 PM »

I've really wondered about the numbers so often thrown around re homeless in Anchorage. While I don't visit there as often now that my folks have passed on, there do seem to be more, especially in the summer. And I'm really disturbed to see so many who look like they have moved in from the villages - very saddening. Last summer I saw whole families hanging around the Old Seward Highway and Dimond Blvd intersection - they looked like lower 48'ers to me but hard to really know. I wish some creative solutions could be developed to reduce the numbers on the streets. Sourdough I'm sure glad your son came around, I can't imagine how hard those times must have been. But it seems to be a common thing for a lot of folks who have recovered: they have to hit absolute bottom first. My sons are 8 and 11 and I sure hope we can avoid those heartbreaks.

Rustyinfla · « **Reply #7 on:** July 12, 2009, 12:38:42 AM »

A lot of homeless seem to migrate here to Fla. because of our milder climate in the winter. Some never leave. A lot of the ones I see do have mental problems.

Questor · « **Reply #8 on:** July 12, 2009, 01:02:19 AM »

San Francisco is the Mecca for the homeless. They are absolutely everywhere.

jlwilliams · « **Reply #9 on:** July 12, 2009, 02:06:31 AM »

It's got to be much harder to be homeless in a cold climate than in a warm one. I can see why they gravitate to Hawaii, Florida and California. I think if I were homeless here (CT) I would start walking/hitching south. At least in Florida you won't freeze to death.

I can't imagine why those in Ankorage don't put a thumb up and head for sunny Cali.

Dee · « **Reply #10 on:** July 12, 2009, 03:39:04 AM »

Quote from: Sourdough on July 11, 2009, 10:15:13 AM

pastorp: Most are either strung out on drugs, or mentally disabled. A few are unfortunates that have lost everything due to job loss of financial ruin. They will make a come back, and take care of themselves. As for the mentally disadvantaged, Anchorage needs to come up with something to help them. As for the Drug users, let mother nature clean the gene pool.

Before you say anything about me being harsh towards the drug users, that I don't really know them. Yes I do! My own son was one of them a few years back.

Kirk started using drugs and I kicked him out. For two years he used and lived on the street. It almost killed me, but I refused to give him money or help of any kind knowing he would only use it for more drugs. One day in March I got a call from a woman, said she was talking to a young man that was naked and crying. She said she had just left McDonalds in Spanard and saw him this young man hugging a transformer for warmth. She was going to call the police, but he asker her to call me. She described my son Kirk, and asked if I could come and get him off the street.

I went to the Spanard McDonalds and he came running out of the bushes. Kirk hid down in the floor of my truck. He told me how his friends had stolen his clothes to sell for more drugs. Some friends. Anyway that is what it took to turn my son around, being totally naked with no where to go. Rock bottom. When he got into my truck I told him, "If you are ready to change I'll help you. if not get out". Today he is an E-7 in the Navy, with two girls, and a newborn baby boy. Kirk also has an adopted 14 year old boy that he took off the streets himself when the boy was 11. The boys parents were drug users.

WOW! What a story. Sourdough I spent 20 years watching young folks literally age right before my eyes doing what you just described. Many times the parents promoted it, as the young folks KNEW, that they always had a safety net to fall back on. My step son now 48 years old was never an alcoholic like his father, but he knew that when he ran out of money, and was kicked out of his apt. for weeks of binge drinking that his grandmother, and aunt would come and bail him out, ALWAYS. Well grandmother ran out of money, has alzheimer's and is in a nursing home, aunt has grand kids, has given up on HIM, and spends her money on her grand kids, as she rightly should.
Well this has gone on for OVER 22 years. He is now, as I said 48 years old, and has learned NOTHING! He would not, nor could not ever help us in our old age (not there yet) as he can't take care of himself. He is living with his rich, alcoholic farmer father, and working in a tannery. He does seem to have quit binge drinking for the time being, but everyone has a wait and see attitude. He is still a big talker and dreamer and is hard to be around, and thankfully his mother has always been able to see things for what they really are.

magooch · « **Reply #11 on:** July 12, 2009, 03:59:49 AM »

I think I'm a pretty conservative guy, but when it comes to the homeless, I think there is something the government should probably do. I realize it would probably become a boondoggle, but something like the CCC camps that were around in the FDR days would be better than having the hapless, homeless camping out in parks and alleyways. I would much rather spend the money here in the U.S. than sent as foreign aid to other countries.

GRIMJIM · « **Reply #12 on:** July 12, 2009, 05:43:15 AM »

Dee and Sourdough, those experiences show it can happen in any family. I was on that path also, drinking and drugs all the time. I even lived in a crackhouse for a while.

I got arrested (actually for gun charges and not drugs) and I was looking down the barrel of a 10 year federal term. As I went through the barbed wire laced gate, handcuffed to some guy I didn't know, I had an epiphany. I spent my time waiting to be bailed out doing a lot of soul searching. When I got out I asked my parents if I could move back until I could get back on my feet and I left that house.

I cleaned myself up, at the time I met the girl that is now my wife of almost 20 years. The love of a good woman helped a lot. I worked 2 full time jobs and after moving out and getting my own apartment, I bought my first house at 25 years old.

I now have two kids and hope they never go down the same trail I did. I also hope I would be able to deny them if they did.

I saw through one of my "freinds" what happens when someone in the family helps out. The best thing for him would have been to be left alone and not given money when he couldn't pay his bills. He might have straightened out a lot sooner if his life depended on it.

I could go on and on about this but I don't want to keep hijacking this thread.

Don't give up on all the homeless, some are too far gone to come back but some just need to find the way.

rockbilly · « **Reply #13 on:** July 12, 2009, 05:59:47 AM »

The American homeless population has increased greatly over the past few years, it is not necessarily an income /economy based problem but is influenced greatly by the lack of funding to continue state run mental facilities. Believe it or not, the majority of the people out there suffer from some type of mental problem. There are a lot of veterans, mostly hung up on drugs or booze that can not adjust to a “normal” lifestyle.

Then there are a few “homeless” that earn a good living from panhandling on the streets. We recently had one that drove a nice car to a shopping mall where he parked and got his wheel chair, rolled out the a nearby busy intersection and took hand outs, one of the local cops said he averaged 2-3 hundred a day begging, that ain;t bad and it’s tax free. He quit after being caught, but I am sure he was there for 4-5 years prior to the law coming down on him.

Sourdough · « **Reply #14 on:** July 12, 2009, 06:56:41 AM »

My old high school buddy that I stay with in Florida has a younger brother. I'll call him Darrell for this thread. Darrell was constantly belittled and yelled at by their father. Then the older sister could do no wrong in the Fathers eyes. The Father was an alcoholic and had a short temper. Anyway Darrell grew up with a bad attitude toward girls. Darrell moved away to Washington state. There he kidnapped his bosses wife. Darrell raped her repeatedly and held her hostage for several days in a remote location. For that he spent time in prison. The woman refused to press charges, and showed up in court in his defense. The state still prosacuted him for kidnapping and rape, and he was sent to prison for 10 years. When released Darrell went to Florida to be closer to family.

Upon arrival my buddy who had inherited the family business, felt guilty since the parents had left nothing to Darrell. My buddy went out and rented an apartment for his younger brother. Here he had trouble finding one a registered sex offender could stay in, but was finally successful. Every week he gave his younger brother a small cash payment to help with groceries and utilities. Darrell met a woman and finally got married. My buddy was not too impressed with his new sister-in-law, felt she was only looking for a place to stay.

The woman was doing crack, but keeping it quite from Darrell. Darrell came home one day and found her strung out. They got into a fight, and the police were called. Darrell being the male got a ride to the police station, where they found out he was a parolee. Darrell got to spend 30 days in jail for disturbing the peace, and domestic abuse, since he had slapped his wife around.

When Darrell went to jail my buddy quite paying his rent, which in south Florida is pretty high. The crackhead wife was forced to move out, and no one has seen her since. Darrell upon release was unable to find a place to live since a new law had been passed to exclude sex offenders from most neighborhoods where there is schools, churches, or parks, any thing that might be a gathering place for children. Now Darrell had never molested a child, and is definitely not a child molester, but he is a registered sex offender, and the new law applied to him as such. Darrell can not find a place to live in Ft Lauderdale, therefore he sleeps in an old junk car in back of a church. (That is ironic isn't it) During the day he hits the streets looking for a handout, and just hanging out with others in the same predicament. My buddy still gives him a weekly cash supplement, and is always giving him clothes, and shoes, to wear. My buddy gives Darrell just enough cash for one meal a day, he says anything more and he will spend it on booze.

Darrell is not interested in finding a job, or maybe moving out of the area. Darrell is homeless, he is a very intelligent and informed person when it comes to national and international affairs. When I go down there he and I will sit and talk for hours about world affairs. I often take him out to dinner when I am down there, but I have to be careful where I take him. Darrell has the foulest mouth you have ever heard and it impossible to keep his mouth shut around families and women. Darrell talks like he is still in prison, or out on the street. Darrell just is not interested in helping himself out of his situation.

One other thing, my buddies wife, sister, and all the women in the family are so afraid of Darrell they will not come around the shop if they think he is going to be there. They are all armed and carry, because of him. They have said if he ever shows up at their home, they will shoot him on sight.

If Darrell lived in Anchorage, come winter he would find a warm place to live. He is intelligent and capable of helping himself, but has no incentive, living in warm southern Florida.

Unlike the lower 48, Alaska has not been hit quite as hard by the recession. The homeless could find work if they really try. There is jobs here, in fact the gold mines, and oil companies, are hiring workers from out of state. A large number of workers working for the Pogo Gold Mine near Delta Alaska, live out of state and commute to work from places like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Oklahoma. The men and women work six to eight weeks on and two to three weeks off. They go home during the two or three week off period. When working the mine furnishes them room and board. My almost son, (actually my neighbors son, who has spend as much time here as at home since he was 10 hanging out with Sky) works at the Pogo mine, and loves it. He tells me about the workers from out of state, and how they commute. I also meet the commuting workers at the airport, and on planes going and coming from the lower 48.

Questor · « **Reply #15 on:** July 13, 2009, 06:14:22 AM »

The tragedy of widespread homelessness in places like San Francisco is this: Aren't people like this the reason we pay taxes for all these welfare programs? They spend the money on all these junk programs, but do not use it to help the down-and-out. Why?

Sourdough · « **Reply #16 on:** July 13, 2009, 07:37:08 AM »

I'm retired and some days I just don't feel like doing much of anything so I drive into town and just putter around on the streets and drop into places I think might be interesting. I've learned a bit about the street people here in Fairbanks. There is the regulars and the Transients. The regulers are the people that live here year round. The transients are the people in from the villages who run out of money and hang around for a while till they finally contact someone who helps get them home.

The programs our tax money generate seldom reaches the guys on the streets. They have no way of finding out about them, or they don't care. Many of the guys on the street are happy where they are and don't want to change.

I often give excess meat from my freezer to the local soup kitchen. So anytime the people who run the place see me on the street they invite me in to sit and chat, and try some of their tasty meals. I talk to quite a few of the people there. Most just want to be left alone. Some are happy and very upbeat about life, and like their role in it. Some have some really odd quirks, and a few really scare me. There is usually one or two that are very antagonistic. You soon learn to avoid them, like everyone else does. The antagonistic ones were Viet Nam Vets, who had some serious mental problems. Don't mention the VA to these guys they came unglued.

I asked some fellows one night if they were going to the local shelter here in Fairbanks. They got quite profane, and some got real agitated, in their responses. The local shelter is ran by a Faith Based group. To spend the night the street people were required to sit through a program to "Try and save their souls". They do not want to hear it. The street people only go there when the temps dropped so low they had no other choice.

There is one old lady (Mary) that I kind of miss seeing around. She died during a very cold snap two years ago. Never heard what actually happened, just that she died. Anyway she was what you would call a Bag Lady. She had a shopping cart that she pushed around. All her worldly possessions were in that cart. She remembered the 1968 flood, and was waiting for it's return. She always wore a bright orange Life Jacket year round. She never went anywhere without wearing that life jacket. Every spring someone would give her a new one.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #17 on:** July 13, 2009, 08:05:59 AM »

40 year or so ago the homeless were cared for by the churches , then the city , county , state and federal govt's got involved ( a speical intrest group ? ) now look how wide spread it is and any many cases the churches can't help.
Look at the cost now from tax dollars .

Wonder if they will do better with health care ?

teamnelson · « **Reply #18 on:** July 13, 2009, 08:50:23 AM »

Your tax dollars are paying for social and psychological experimentation on the downtrodden; not meeting tangible needs. The government programs seem tailored to encourage a "dependent" mindset. They made a big deal here about a temporary home for single moms that can take 6 at a time ... when there are 6000 more out there that need it. The cost is tied up in salaries for social work staff.

I don't have a problem with churches trying to care for the soul while they care for the belly; perhaps if the first was addressed, the person would be more equipped to deal with the second on their own. After Katrina, those yellow shirts were all Baptist volunteers; over 35,000 of them. They opened the only two child care centers in the entire region to manage the orphans, before FEMA realized they needed them. And they cooked every single meal that the Red Cross delivered, plus a few million more they served themselves. Mobile laundry, moblile showers and bathrooms, chainsaw/shovel crews ... all faith based, all volunteer. And there were counseling teams that would sit and talk with the families while another team took the tree out of their living room. I don't think we're going to see that ever again. FEMA got egg on their face, and they'll make sure there will never be any "competition" to their operation.

Day may be coming soon when you'll be running a soup kitchen from your home.

Questor · « **Reply #19 on:** July 13, 2009, 08:55:56 AM »

I suppose you're right. I remember one social experiment with the homeless in San Francisco that was particularly appalling. The city thought it would be a great idea to set up parks where the homeless people could have shelter. So they put big concrete sewer-style piping sections in the parks. (internal diameter about 4 feet, I think.)

The homeless people started killing one another because the saw the pipe as posessions. After the death toll got pretty remarkable, the city took the pipes away.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #20 on:** July 13, 2009, 08:57:54 AM »

Did the dieing stop ? or just the killing ?

Questor · « **Reply #21 on:** July 13, 2009, 09:08:44 AM »

Well that's a dang good question. I really don't know what happened after that.

hunt-m-up · « **Reply #22 on:** July 13, 2009, 09:17:50 AM »

Quote from: Questor on July 13, 2009, 06:14:22 AM

The tragedy of widespread homelessness in places like San Francisco is this: Aren't people like this the reason we pay taxes for all these welfare programs? They spend the money on all these junk programs, but do not use it to help the down-and-out. Why?

By the time the federal, the state, the city, the social worker, the counselors, the administrators, etc, etc, take their cut we have 10 people getting paid to help one person. Most people wouldn't donate to a charity that is that top-heavy, but it's ok for our government to operate that way...
I can't wait for them to control every aspect of healthcare!!

Questor · « **Reply #23 on:** July 13, 2009, 09:30:01 AM »

hunt-m-up:

You're busted, man! There are laws against posting things that depressing on a Monday! Ouch!

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #24 on:** July 13, 2009, 09:34:28 AM »

That was the good news !

hunt-m-up · « **Reply #25 on:** July 13, 2009, 09:40:51 AM »

Just remember it's all about CHANGE!

Sorry, that one will probably get my birthday taken away...

powderman · « **Reply #26 on:** July 13, 2009, 10:44:27 AM »

There are thousands of homeless in Lou ky. The only time they are recognized is 3X a year, Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. Homelessness and hunger is a year around thing, like it or not. I used to work in a store 10 years ago in Corydon In. A homeless lady came in every day in the evening for her supper, a 25 cent bag of chips, and a 17 cent soda. Her name was Nancy, no booze, no drugs. Her clothes were well worn but always clean. She had come from Michigan, had a nice home, good life. Her husband left her for a younger woman, left her and her daughter. She soon found that he hadn't made a mortgage paymment in a long time, bank forclosed, put her and her daughter out in the street. The daughter became so stressed she stepped right in front of a truck to end her misery, in front of Nancy. Nancy ended up in Corydon somehow. I tried to invite her home for Thanksgiving, she refused. She would ask for prayer for others, but never herself, just the less fortunate. She lived in her car. She would park it in the lot at walmart, far from the store, she felt safe sleeping there. Walmart ran her off. She moved her home to another place, within a week she was beaten and raped by 8 mexicans. She was never the same after that, lost track of her several years ago. POWDERMAN.

mechanic · « **Reply #27 on:** July 13, 2009, 11:46:51 AM »

There was once a group of fella's that lived under a bridge on the river until the mayor and council had them removed....One was a former college professor with a PHD. He just kind of got soured on the life he was living and dropped out. Others of these fella's had drug or alchohol problems, and most just choose to live the way they do. Personally, I saw no problem with them living under the bridge. Unless you got off the path to go fishing you would never know. Not that long ago, many people camped in woods along the road routinely and no one paid them any attention as long as they were not stealing.

Jesus said: "the poor you have with you always." Some people just choose that life, others fall into it and have trouble getting out. The trouble is determining the difference.

Sourdough · « **Reply #28 on:** July 13, 2009, 12:34:23 PM »

Saw something about a bunch of guys living under one of the Interstate bridges in Ft Lauderdale. It was not that they were not working and could not afford a home. They were not allowed to live anywhere in Ft Lauderdale due to them being sex offenders. The new laws about them not being able to live within a certain distance from a School, Day Care, Youth Center, Play Ground, Park, Church, or Bar, has made the entire city off limits. Under the bridge was the only place they were left alone.

While I agree they are not worth the powder it would take to blow them to the bad place, lets face reality, they have to live somewhere.

teamnelson · « **Reply #29 on:** July 13, 2009, 12:56:23 PM »

Not to drift too far afield, but there is a relationship between homelessness and the prison system. With overcrowding, many states and even the fed are going to shortened terms, but that doesn't solve the reentry issues, and the housing limitations Sourdough brings up. Fixing one won't necessarily fix all of the other, but it would help I think.

That said, best prison I ever saw was in Djibouti. Its a big walled compound, no power, ac, food, medical care, education, cable, xbox, gym ... just shelter and guards. The family was expected to provide or pay to care for whomever was incarcerated for the duration of their sentence (if they live through it) so as not to be a drain on everyone else. Its hell to be sure, but they don't have overcrowding issues.