It’s called “housing first” and here in Anchorage, the first test of that concept is getting set to open in Fairview. Karluk Manor will put 46 of the city’s worst street alcoholics into permanent housing while still allowing them to drink.
The first residents are scheduled to move in mid-November.
“Our goal is taking people out of Fairview that are already homeless and living here and putting them in safe and secure housing,” says RurAL CAP homeless coordinator Melinda Freemon.
Freemon says people have no chance of getting well when they are living on the streets.
But forcing them to stop drinking will not be a part of the program. Instead, she says, residents will be offered various services from medical care to case management in an effort to guide them to better health.
The program will be funded primarily by federal Housing and Urban Development dollars but Freemon says it should save the city money.
She says it costs thousands of dollars less to put people in permanent housing than it does to have them strain public services like police and emergency room services, even prison.
