Anchorage pledges permanent housing amid record homeless deaths

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — So far this year 49 homeless people have died on city streets, more than twice as many as all of 2022. That’s according to the Anchorage Daily News, which is tracking outdoor deaths of individuals with no fixed address.

The 49 included two people who used wheelchairs who died after heavy snowstorms hit the area in what is already expected to be a tough cold season.

The federal count of homeless people reached 580,000 last year, according to the Associated Press. In the Lower 48, cities are cracking down on homeless encampments. At the same time, some homeless Native people in the West have been targets of widespread Medicaid scams. At least two tribes have declared public health emergencies, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana and Navajo Nation in the Southwest.

https://ictnews.org/news/anchorage-pledges-permanent-housing-amind-record-homeless-deaths