The case of a homeless man who froze to death in Alaska’s second-largest city of Fairbanks has exposed a hole in the safety net of care provided to a vulnerable population in one of the country's coldest places
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — — The case of a homeless man who froze to death in Alaska’s second-largest city of Fairbanks has exposed a hole in the safety net of care provided to a vulnerable population in one of the coldest places in the country.
Among U.S. cities with 25,000 or more people, Fairbanks — with a population of about 32,500 — is the coldest in the nation, said Rick Thoman, a climate expert at the International Arctic Research Center. However, the city lacks a low-barrier emergency shelter, a place that consistently and unconditionally offers an open door and a warm cot. That leaves those who are homeless to walk the streets at night, crowd into motel rooms 10 at a time and sleep in abandoned houses, cars or even dig snow caves.
The rules are necessary because the shelter needs to be an orderly, secure place, especially for people newly in recovery.“We have been criticized because there’s a level of mental illness that we just can’t take care of,” Kelly said. About 100 people showed up for apricot oatmeal one recent morning at the Stone Soup Café, a grassroots soup kitchen in Fairbanks. Besides oatmeal, lentil stew and pork chops were available for carry out.
He said concerns with the adequacy of shelter are brought to local governments. “And every time we do, it’s, ‘Well, we have a rescue mission,’” he said.
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