A Strategy to Address Homelessness
Anchorage Street Outreach
Coordinated | Person-centered | Housing-Focused
“Outreach is about dignity, trust, and human connection. We don’t just hand out supplies — we meet people where they are.”
— Zach Zears, Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness
Street outreach plays a unique role in gaining trust and building connections with our unsheltered neighbors. Anchorage outreach teams keep up with where people are living outdoors; confirm which camps are active; provide direct service including medical help in the field; distribute snacks, hygiene products and other items; and connect people to additional services and housing resources tailored for them. The work is trauma-informed, housing-focused and centered on the people we serve.
How does outreach help our unsheltered neighbors get housing?
Teams serve as direct access points for Coordinated Entry assessments that populate our community’s by-name list of those experiencing homelessness, improving accuracy and ensuring that unsheltered individuals are prioritized for housing based on need.
How you can help
Whether you're shopping online or rallying your community, your contribution helps us reach people who need support most. You can help us provide snacks, hygiene items, first aid supplies and more, either by joining a volunteer event to assemble items or purchasing some of what we give away.
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Shop our wish list
Your donations keep our outreach teams stocked and ready to help. Check out our wish list!
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Volunteer to make kits
You can help assemble items that street outreach teams distribute to those who are unsheltered.
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Host your own event
Host an outreach kit-making party at your work, home, church or community organization!
Myths and truths about our unhoused neighbors
Myth
They choose to be homeless.
Truth
No one would choose that hard life. One unexpected thing can roll into another. Family disruption and violence at home, health issues and medical bills, rent increases and lost jobs — all of these and more can push someone into homelessness.
Myth
They can just get a job and pay for their own place.
Truth
Many do work. Affordable housing is so scarce and rents are so high in Anchorage that people with jobs cannot afford a place. Also, living outdoors without a fixed address or ready access to a shower, a phone, transportation and other basics of modern life can make it hard to get and keep a job. More than 60 percent of those experiencing homelessness in Anchorage have physical disabilities or chronic health conditions that can pose barriers to many jobs.
Myth
They camp because they don’t want to follow rules.
Truth
People camp rather than go into a shelter for a variety of reasons. Maybe they have pets. Maybe they are trying to stay sober or have social anxiety and are triggered around so many people. Maybe they are trying to medicate away deep traumas through substance use. Maybe their abuser is in the shelter. Maybe all the Anchorage shelters are full.
Outreach takes many forms
Our strategic plan, Anchored Home, underscores the importance of including those who have lived expertise in shaping and running programs. We are working on a framework to not only elevate their voices but to provide a path to leading our community’s homelessness response.
