The issue of homelessness continues to be on the minds of Juneauites, and a discussion Tuesday night aims to gather different viewpoints on how to address the problem.
“Let’s Talk about Homelessness,” a small-group discussion about homelessness in Juneau, begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the downtown public library. The event is scheduled to go a little over an hour, and is hosted by Juneau Public Libraries and the Alaska Humanities Forum.
According to the Facebook event page, anyone is welcome but the discussion format works best with 10-20 people. The event is meant to bring people from various walks of life together — business owners, health care workers, police, government officials and people who are homeless — to try and build trust and better understand the root causes of homelessness in Juneau.
Homelessness continues to rise in Juneau, according to the most recent Point In Time count that was done this January. The annual head count of homeless revealed there were 235 homeless people in Juneau. That was an increase in 20 people from 2017. The amount of unsheltered people who were out on the street decreased by 15 people this year, the count showed, due in part to transitional housing such as Housing First.
