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Federal Relief Funds Community Recovery in Anchorage
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Over the past two years, the Municipality of Anchorage distributed a record-breaking $260M to local businesses, nonprofits and individuals that helped prevent an economic crisis and delivered valuable services to people in need.
Following the appropriation of the second tranche of $51 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds at the August 9 Assembly Meeting and upon upholding those investments against the mayor's vetoes, the Anchorage Assembly is proud to launch the Anchorage Recovery Dashboard.
The Recovery Dashboard tells the stories of community organizations and neighbors putting federal relief dollars to work and revitalizing the city and is a window into the Assembly's commitment to investing transparently, responsibly, and equitably.
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In Case You Missed It: Look Back to Past Meetings
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Ever wonder what happened to that proposed ordinance you saw in the news? Pulling a quote from an Assembly member for your upcoming report? Or maybe you want to re-live the excitement of a recent meeting...
It's never been easier to look up actions and tune into discussions from past Assembly meetings.
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Find a Legislative Document
The Public Portal to Assembly Documents is a gateway to every Assembly Ordinance, Memoranda, Resolution, Information Memoranda and Emergency Ordinance put before the Anchorage Assembly since 1975.
Use keywords like "residential tax," "transportation," business names and more to search the archives.
Click Details to see the full item index, including action dates and a link to the document itself.
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Watch Past Meetings
Take it from us - when some Assembly meetings last until midnight, you have better things to do than re-watch the entire meeting to hear action on one item.
There's an easier way to replay the action on an item: search meetings and agendas in the Agenda Portal to tune in to the introduction, public hearings, and debate of items that matter to you so you can skip the rest.
Open the Meeting Agenda, click on the agenda item and watch the embedded Youtube video, which will automatically jump to the discussion on the item.
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From Homeless to Stably Housed Plan - Update
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The Assembly continues to work on elements of the Homeless to Stably Housed Plan, the municipality's current contribution to the community-developed Anchored Home Plan.
At a special meeting on August 17, AR 2022-252 was adopted to create a task force to work with community groups to develop an emergency shelter plan consistent with AMC Chapter 16.120. The task force is being coordinated by the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness and will convene in-person and online twice a week from August 22 to September 22. Learn more about planning for cold weather emergency sheltering. This is important because, with the closing of the Sullivan Arena and changes to use for Beans Café and Brother Francis Shelter, for the first time since the 1980s, there is not a low barrier shelter or emergency cold weather shelter in Anchorage, so past plans and practices will not be applicable this winter.
Additionally, the Assembly continues to move forward on the purchase of the Guest House as part of the Workforce and Supportive Housing pillar of the plan. The Assembly approved $3.4M in American Rescue Act Plan (ARPA) funds at the July 26 meeting, which will match private sector funds to finalize the purchase. The project team is just waiting for the Municipality to cut the final check.
As a reminder, the Homeless to Stably Housed Plan identifies opportunities, develops plans and prepares funding proposals to address gaps in the traditional housing and shelter system by focusing on the following areas:
- Complex Care Shelter – the former Sockeye Inn opened this past June
- Navigation Center and Shelter – in design; funding approved by the Assembly in April through AR 2022-111(S), As Amended - waiting for update from Administration
- Substance Misuse Residential Treatment – waiting for update from Administration
- Workforce and Supportive Housing – this is the Guest House project funded through ARPA in July
- Housing for Special Populations (couples, elders, women and LGBTQ+) – this is the next step of the plan
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Find Your State House and Senate Districts...It's Easy!
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With state elections coming up, we wanted to share that Vote for Kids has created a new, interactive map to help you find your new (2022) House and Senate legislative districts!
It's easy to use and intuitive, simply:
- Visit the interactive map
- Type your address in the search bar at the top
- Use the box and check marks on the left to alternate between "New House Districts (April 2022)" and "Interim Senate Districts (May 2022)
- Click on the area you live in to see the candidates running in your district and get your district number
- Be sure to navigate to both layers of the map to get your House and then your Senate district!
Questions about using this tool? Please contact Brooke Ivy, vice president of policy and advocacy at Alaska Children's Trust at bivy@alaskachildrenstrust.org. |
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During the August 23 meeting, the Assembly took the following actions:
- Passed AR 2022-254(S) to recommend changes to the Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions (AMATS) Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) for 2023-2026. The recommendations were made in advance of the Aug. 25 AMATS meeting, where the 2023-2026 TIP is on the agenda to be considered for final approval.
- Postponed AO 2022-13 indefinitely. The ordinance, introduced by the mayor earlier this year, proposed changing the Anchorage Charter to make the Municipal Clerk an elected official.
- Passed AR 2022-253 to transfer funding to the nuisance property abatement fund. This will be coupled with $500,000 from the second tranche of ARPA funds. This fund was created by the Assembly in 2019 to give the municipality a resources to address nuisance properties. Learn more about reporting a nuisance property.
The Assembly held a Special Meeting on Thurs. August 25 at 12pm to take up action on the mayor's line-item vetoes to appropriations made in 2022-178(S) As Amended. Through a series of votes addressing the line-item vetoes, the Assembly ultimately upheld the AR as approved on August 9.
For items that had action taken at an Assembly Meeting, finalized documents incorporating Assembly amendments are posted here about 2-3 weeks after passage.
For more information on recent actions:
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With Labor Day weekend around the corner, the Assembly won't meet again for a Regular Assembly meeting until Tues. September 13.
In the meantime:
- A worksession was held on Fri. August 26 on AO 2022-75, a ballot proposition that would increase the Anchorage residential real property tax exemption. That ordinance will be up for public hearing at the September 13 meeting.
- An ordinance to put before the voters a charter amendment for filling vacancies on the Assembly and in the Office of the Mayor will have a public hearing at the September 27 meeting. AO 2022-20 (S-1) was postponed indefinitely at the August 23 meeting as an updated version, AO 2022-77 was brought forward as a laid on the table item.
- AO 2022-77 as described above will be addressed at a worksession on September 16.
To learn more about what’s ahead for the Anchorage Assembly, visit:
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Learn how to get involved and share your voice.
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Header photo: Anchorage Skyline, Ken Graham Photography, courtesy of Visit Anchorage.
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