Juneau’s cold weather emergency shelter opens Wednesday night.
It’s the third year the shelter will be located in a warehouse in Thane, about a mile from downtown. It’s funded by the city and operated by staff from St. Vincent de Paul, a local nonprofit that works to help people affected by homelessness.
Jennifer Skinner is the executive director of Juneau’s St. Vincent de Paul chapter. She said the shelter is critical to keeping people alive during the cold winter months.
“The most important part of having this option for our unhoused population is that it gives them a safe, dry, warm place to be overnight, where otherwise they would be out in the elements,” she said.
The shelter accepts anyone who comes in search of a place to sleep, as long as they aren’t disruptive to other patrons. City officials say it’s a stopgap and meant to be a last resort for unhoused people when the weather gets cold.
Last season, the shelter saw an average of 45 people per night. But, some nights, staff saw up to 70 people in need of shelter.
This summer, Juneau saw an influx of encampments throughout the borough, particularly near the Glory Hall shelter in the Mendenhall Valley. That’s in part due to the closure of the city-run campground near downtown two years ago.
The increase in campers this year led the Glory Hall to reduce its services in late August due to what staff say was a deteriorating and unsafe environment in the neighborhood. The Juneau Assembly grappled with several ideas this summer to address the larger issue of homelessness in Juneau.
Skinner said she expects many campers near the Glory Hall shelter to head to the emergency shelter in Thane as the temperatures in Juneau begin to fall.
“It kind of just takes that lift and that burden off of our unhoused population, and allows for them to have a little bit of peace of mind for six months out of the year, knowing that there’s always a place open,” she said.
The shelter will be open every day starting Wednesday from 9 p.m. until the early morning. There will also be free shuttle transportation from the Mendenhall Valley and downtown to the shelter. The shelter will stay open through April of next year.
