Aug. 2
By Lauren Maxwell
he numbers at a Midtown homeless camp next to Cuddy Park have slowly increased ever since the camp was abated in early June to make way for a three-day concert event. While it’s difficult to get exact figures, a count by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department on July 24 found six RVs, eight cars and 21 tents on the site.
Anchorage Homeless Coordinator Alexis Johnson said more recently, numbers at the camp have remained fairly steady.
“I think everyone’s kind of settled into their placement within the city right now,” she said. “There’s not an abatement going on, so we don’t see a lot of movement.”
Most of the tents are scattered on property next to Cuddy Park but on any morning half a dozen vehicles in the parking lot hold people sleeping inside. On Tuesday, a couple and their four children slept in a passenger van explaining they’d been there for about a month. Jorbert Polty said he had a job and could support his family, but a felony conviction has kept them from finding a landlord who will rent.
Others at the site said rent was an issue for them as well, including one man camping in an RV with two adult family members who said they were saving up for an apartment but expected to stay homeless through the winter.
Johnson said the city has had several housing projects come online in recent months and is working with partners to get people into housing. The city has already announced the Sullivan Arena will not reopen as a shelter this winter. Instead, Johnson said, they are putting out requests to find smaller places for people to stay temporarily such as hotel rooms, where people could stay two to a room. Still, she expected there would be people camping through the winter at Cuddy as well as two other camps at East Third Avenue and Ingra Street and Davis Park in Mountain View.
“If people do want to continue camping, we are going to give them every resource possible to get them inside and keep them warm,” she said. “But it is their right to camp outside.”