Mayor LaFrance has described her homelessness strategy as an all-of-the-above approach that’s compassionate but firm, including: increasing mental health and addiction treatment, expanding access to shelter and affordable housing, while also cleaning up and dismantling homeless camps and prosecuting street level crime.
Read the homelessness plan here.
Homelessness
Actions taken to address homelessness:
Secured 300 year-round shelter beds
Implemented 24/7 Mobile Crisis Team
Increased camp abatement and cleanup capacity
Increased police presence at Town Square Park and other key locations
Added criminal penalties for fires, and for camps near busy roads, trails, and schools
Directed over $5 million in federal financial assistance to help residents get and stay housed
Results to date
33 camps abated, including abating the city’s largest camp at Davis Park
300 more individuals sleeping in shelter nightly vs. sleeping outside
600 households expected to get housed or keep their housing through direct financial assistance
Over 1 million pounds of trash cleaned up from parks, trails, and streets
Deeper dive
When Mayor LaFrance took office, the number of people experiencing homelessness was as high as it’s ever been since the community began collecting comprehensive data. Homelessness is a complex issue that has gotten worse over time and will not be solved overnight.
The key question is: Is the situation getting better? Has the LaFrance administration made progress on homelessness during the first half of her term?
State of homelessness in Anchorage
Homelessness has been a growing problem in Anchorage for decades. 2025 is the first year since 2019 that the number of people experiencing homelessness in Anchorage has gone down (Source: Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness).
2025 is the first time in seven years that the number of homelessness individuals decreased in the annual Point in Time Count in Anchorage.
Number of homeless individuals counted in Anchorage
Shelter
Shelter in Anchorage is provided by a combination of community organizations and the city. Mayor LaFrance has cited more shelter as a key part of the administration’s strategy to reduce the number of people sleeping outside.
When Mayor LaFrance took office: Anchorage had zero year-round shelter beds provided by the city.
Today: 300 year-round shelter beds are keeping hundreds of people from sleeping on streets and trails.
Year-round shelter beds supported by city
Housing
Mayor LaFrance has also highlighted housing as a key part of the administration’s strategy to address homelessness. Her administration has introduced new incentives to encourage development of new housing, along with incentives for property owners to turn vacant and abandoned properties into housing.
Research shows that housing affordability and homelessness are closely linked: As rents go up in a community, rates of homelessness also go up. In Anchorage, rents increased nearly 25% from 2018 to 2024. One way to bring costs down, and help reduce homelessness, is to add more housing.
When Mayor LaFrance took office: Anchorage rents were at an all-time high, and new housing production was at a multi-year low.
Today: More units have been permitted in the first 9 months of this 2025 than all of last year.
Housing units permitted
Camp abatement and cleanup
The LaFrance administration began abating camps during her first month in office. In total, 33 camps have been abated by her administration, including the city’s largest camp at Davis Park. Over 50 individuals who were camping in Davis Park moved into housing, shelter, or treatment upon abatement.
The administration has also put forward and passed new laws banning fires, and camps near busy roads, schools, and trails. More resources have also been put into camp cleanup, a key step of abatement that returns parks and trails to their intended use.
The LaFrance administration abated 15 camps in the first 6 months of her administration, compared to two camps cleared in the final 6 months of the previous administration.
More camps are being abated
The city has abated a total of 33 camps.
Twice as much trash has been cleared from parks and trails in 2025 vs. 2024.
Tons of trash cleared by the city
Early impacts of new laws prohibiting fires and prohibiting camps near roads, schools, and trails
Mayor LaFrance has introduced several new ordinances meant to improve public safety in public spaces.
20 arrests
made under new law that prohibits starting fires in public spaces
4 arrests
made under new law that prohibits camps near busy roads, schools, and trails
87 individuals
voluntarily complied with the new law, and 11 accepted services