Funding More Housing First Facilities in Anchorage: A Feasibility Study English 212: Technical Writing Katie Erickson & Jill Robinson

Overview Introduction Criteria Questions Methods Results Conclusions Recommendations

Introduction Examined the feasibility of funding more housing first facilities in Anchorage Researched Anchorage’s annual cost of emergency services used by chronic homeless inebriates Researched Anchorage’s current housing first facility and its effect on the current residents

Criteria Questions Will the city of Anchorage be able to fund more housing first facilities? Would the cost of emergency service taxes decrease? Would the lives of people who are homeless increase and/or improve?

Methods Performed both primary and secondary research Primary research consisted of a questionnaire distributed to 20 fellow students Secondary research consisted of using multiple online databases to find six articles regarding our topic Researched the effect housing first facilities have had on individuals and the community Researched the effects on the cost of emergency services annually

Primary Research Table 1. Severity of homelessness in Anchorage (5 being the worst)

Results-Funding Housing First Facilities Current housing first facility, Karluk Manor is run by a non-profit organization and also receives grants from both private and public sources Asked participants of questionnaire if they thought facilities should be funded by public or private donations and grants Fourty-four percent of participants believed facilities should be run through public funds

Primary Research Figure 1. Types of Funding for Housing First Facilites.

Results-Cost of Emergency Services Using housing first facilities reduces the annual cost of emergency services by $39,000 Services commonly used include police and fire response, community service patrol pickups, emergency medical services, the criminal justice system and social services

Results-Improvement of Life The amount of alcohol being drunk has been shown to decrease for individuals staying in housing first facilities Residents are allowed to rehabilitate in a safe environment and receive positive encouragement Residents are required to volunteer 4 hours a month, helping to give them a sense of purpose

Conclusions At this time, it is not feasible to fund more housing first facilities in Anchorage More research needs to be done to see if the costly price of starting up a facility is worth the benefits to its residents In the questionnaire, participants answered they would be willing to pay increased taxes for more housing first facilities

Recommendations More research must be conducted to determine if there is an actual need for more housing first facilities in Anchorage Interviewing people who are homeless and chronic inebriates may provide better insight to determine if more facilities are needed Once a demand of need is established, more research can be done to determine paying for the startup of the facilities