The case of a homeless man who froze to death in Alaska\u2019s 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.
\nThe city has no low-barrier shelter to provide help and a warm place to stay on an unconditional basis.
\nThe body of Charles Ahkiviana, 55, was discovered frozen in a snowbank near a busy department store, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
\nThe day his body was found, two days before Christmas, it was minus 32 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 35 degrees Celsius) and at one point, the wind chill was minus 54 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 47 Celsius). Ahkiviana died of hypothermia, Alaska State Troopers said.
\nAmong U.S. cities with 25,000 or more people, Fairbanks \u2014 with a population of about 32,500 \u2014 is the coldest in the nation, said Rick Thoman, a climate expert at the International Arctic Research Center.
\nAhkiviana\u2019s death was a moment for community reflection, and for \u201cfury and shame,\u201d Jennifer Jolis, the former director of a soup kitchen, wrote in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
\nIt\u2019s estimated there are up to 100 people who are homeless in Fairbanks, where activists say a caring, creative community helps those in need.
\nHowever, 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.
\nThe Fairbanks Rescue Mission is the largest provider of emergency shelter in Fairbanks. It can house up to 200 people in an emergency, and about 90 people, including women and families with children, were there on a recent night, said John Coghill, a former state lawmaker who runs the day-to-day operations at the mission.
\nHowever, the mission requires that a person pass a breathalyzer test and submit to a urinalysis for drugs to enter, leaving some to say it\u2019s not sheltering the people who need help the most.
\nThe mission\u2019s clients are expected to move through a structured program toward self-sufficiency.
\n\u201cIf you\u2019re willing to help yourself, we\u2019re willing to help you,\u201d said Pete Kelly, the executive director and another former state lawmaker.
\nThe rules are necessary because the shelter needs to be an orderly, secure place, especially for people newly in recovery.
\nThe mission can\u2019t help everyone, Kelly and Coghill said.
\n\u201cWe have been criticized because there\u2019s a level of mental illness that we just can\u2019t take care of,\u201d Kelly said.
\nAdvocates say the mission does important work, but it shouldn\u2019t be the only option and a low-barrier shelter is needed. In Anchorage, the city-owned Sullivan Arena has been turned into such a facility.
\n\u201cI really wish that we had something like that here,\u201d said Lynda Purvis, a case manager with the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a consortium of 42 Athabascan tribes in Interior Alaska that among its responsibilities is providing health and social service needs for tribal members. \u201cSomewhere you could throw cots down, give you something warm to drink and just get out of the cold.\u201d
\nAbout 100 people showed up for apricot oatmeal one recent morning at the Stone Soup Caf\u00e9, a grassroots soup kitchen in Fairbanks. Besides oatmeal, lentil stew and pork chops were available for carry out.
\nThe philosophy of The Bread Line, which operates Stone Soup Cafe, is to offer a come-as-you-are place, with minimal rules. It also offers a place to be indoors for the two hours every morning it\u2019s open.
\nAhkiviana\u2019s death may have momentarily raised community consciousness about the lack of shelter, but Matt Davis, a longtime cook at the Stone Soup Caf\u00e9, wondered if it would last long enough for action.
\nHe said concerns with the adequacy of shelter are brought to local governments. \u201cAnd every time we do, it\u2019s, \u2018Well, we have a rescue mission,\u2019\u201d he said.
\nKenneth Cooper said he\u2019s no longer welcome at the mission and at times will stay with friends. He doesn\u2019t like to stay more than a night at a time, however.
\nDuring the coldest weather, he will sometimes make a shelter by burrowing into a snowbank, just big enough for himself. He runs a PVC pipe through the snow to create a vent and burns a candle for heat. Other times, he will nurse a cup of coffee at the city\u2019s only diner open all night.
\nBrynn Butler, the city\u2019s housing director who was once homeless herself, senses there\u2019s momentum for change. She doesn\u2019t see Fairbanks opening a low-barrier shelter like Anchorage but said they could develop a cold-weather plan that might allow it to activate emergency shelters in extreme weather.
\nIf a funding source could be secured, a site located and workers hired, she says it could become a reality, maybe by next winter.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s my hope,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Apnews<\/p>\n
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