City of Anchorage Creates Another Homeless Crisis By Shutting Down The Sullivan Arena On May 1st

 Anchorage Tosses Hundreds of People Out of Sullivan Arena & Onto The Streets With A Tent & A Sleeping Bag 

Sullivan Arena (Wikipedia) 

Anchorage doesn't like people sleeping in the woods. Not that long ago, the city launched a major campaign to find and destroy any homeless encampments. They used helicopters to look down into the trees, and gathered up homeless people's gear and tents, and dragged their things out onto the sidewalks before destroying whatever they could find. 

Now the city has moved into a new era, as nighttime temperatures hover around freezing for the next week, the ground is soggy, and mixed rain and snow is expected. Snow drifts are still over two feet deep in many parts of town. 

On May 1st, 2023, all but 90 people who have been finding shelter in the Sullivan Arena will be thrown out to fend for themselves without any possible solutions. 

The day before the deadline, on Sunday, April 30th, the number of homeless residents wandering through snowbanks and along wet and muddy sidewalks had already grown. 

Many people have stayed at the Sullivan since October, after leaving the dangerous encampment that was set up for them by the city last summer at Anchorage Centennial Park.

On 15th Street, near the Sullivan Arena, there was already an increase in homeless people, including single and double amputees out on the busy street, being pushed in wheelchairs by their friends. 

By Sunday night, as darkness approached, homeless people wrapped in blankets were setting up on the few benches that front 15th Street. 

Nobody, including the city, says they have any idea where the displaced people will sleep on Monday night. 

A Daily News story quoted Alexis Johnson, the city's homeless coordinator, as saying that up to 400 people were about to be displaced.