Wasilla City Council listens to presentation on local homelessness

WASILLA— The Mat-Su Health Foundation and Agnew Beck Consulting gave a presentation addressing homelessness in the Mat-Su Valley during the regular Wasilla City Council meeting Monday, Jan. 24.

MSHF President and CEO Elizabeth Ripley and senior program officer Jim Beck took turns at the podium to address their concerns and ideas for solutions surrounding local homelessness.

Ripley told the Council that finding solutions that address the challenges faced in the community is a matter of public health.

“We care about housing and homelessness because shelter is a primary determinant of health. If you aren’t sheltered in a place where you can be safe, warm, and protected; then you won’t come close to achieving optimal health,” Ripley said. “There is no one face of homelessness in our city. It’s all ages. It’s all generations. It’s all genders, cultures, and races. A one size fits all approach won’t work. We need many different kinds of interventions.”

Ripley stated that homelessness is a growing problem in the Mat-Su, surrounding state, and the entire nation. She said there are numerous factors that play into the overall rate of homelessness, including lack of treatment services and local ordinances and policies.

“Right now, there are families in our community that are on the brink of homelessness, and we need to prevent them from becoming homeless,” Ripley said.

The Mat-Su Health Foundation and Agnew Beck Consulting recently released the results of the Mat-Su Homeless Needs Assessment, a community project that aims to address local homelessness through data collection and recommendations for areas of improvement.

“We just wanted to answer a series of questions to begin with. We wanted to see if we could wrap our arms around the homeless situation in the Mat-Su,” Beck said. “Our data isn’t perfect, but it’s a pretty good start at this point.”

Thea Agnew Bemben and Molly Mylius of Agnew Beck Consulting appeared at the meeting telephonically and gave a slideshow presentation about the Mat-Su Homeless Needs Assessment.

“There are as many causes for homelessness as there are people experiencing it,” Bemben said. “When a person is experiencing homelessness, it’s usually the result of a variety of factors and often many more than one is happening at that given time of that person’s life.”

Mylius said they estimated that there are about 630 households that are experiencing homelessness in the Valley. Of those 630 households, an estimated 340 are being served by local organizations while 290 are not receiving services.

“We know that the community is not fulfilling the need as evidenced by some of the anecdotes that were shared earlier and then of course, what we see in the data,” Mylius said.

Mylius said the assessment revealed strengths such as homeless prevention programs, providers working together to find solutions, and a slow increase of community awareness around local homelessness.

Areas of improvement included a lack of low-barrier, short-term housing since there are very few locations in the Valley where people can go on a short-term basis, including those who are in crisis, waiting to go through an intake process, or anyone without a place to sleep.

“There needs to be clear entry points to services and housing. Right now, there are few options for walking in and having a unified, organized way to connect with services today in Mat-Su,” Mylius said.

Mylius said the ultimate goal is to use what they’ve learned from the Homeless Needs Assessment and work to fill the gaps in the continuum of care to help people find permanent housing. She said there’s already a lot of collaboration between agencies across the community and expanding those overall efforts will ultimately help reduce homelessness.

“There’s definitely a lot of energy and enthusiasm to get some of these recommendations moved forward… To really formalize the process and create a more solid partnership. That partnership will define how the community responds, what tools and resources are available, and make sure that everyone is organized and operating effectively and strategically in the same direction,” Mylius said. “To convene private, nonprofit, and government funders to develop a funding plan. So, how can the community work together and bring resources to the table, and of course this includes government.”

Beck said they’re about a year into this project and they’re in the process of sharing the homeless needs presentation across the Valley.

“I was excited about how interested you all are in this issue and I know that we’re really looking forward to partnering with you further as we develop this project a bit more,” Beck said.

Councilmember Simon Brown thanked the Mat-Su Health Foundation and Agnew/Beck Consulting for sharing the presentation. He said that the proposed recommendations are projects that will take some time to work out, and asked if they had any recommendations for short-term solutions that the city can put into place to help those experiencing homelessness.

Beck suggested a policy review at the city level to see if there are any underlying ordinances or practices that may be contributing to the overall issue of homelessness in the community. He also said that continuing to support local organizations that are providing important services throughout the year such as MyHouse and Valley Residential Services is greatly appreciated.

Councilmember Stu Graham also thanked the Mat-Su Health Foundation and Agnew/Beck Consulting for the presentation and complimented their work in general. He said that he’s known Ripley for years and spoke highly of her contributions to the community.

“I’ve always admired the work ethic and the spine that you bring to the Mat-Su,” Graham said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com