Anchorage, AK Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Bridge Housing Siting (2026)

120 of the Anchorage Municipal Code creates the municipality's cold-weather emergency shelter system, run by the health department. 020(A), the plan activates automatically, with no further department action, when the outside temperature drops to 45 degrees Fahrenheit or below (by ambient or wind-chill measure) on the day sheltering begins; it also activates at the mayor's discretion during a declared civil emergency, or whenever the director finds in writing that a shelter shortage endangers unsheltered people. Temperature readings come from the National Weather Service station at Merrill Field Airport, with Lake Hood, Elmendorf, or Ted Stevens International as backups if Merrill Field is offline.

Deactivation follows the same triggers in reverse, and operators get at least seven days' notice before the plan winds down; no one sheltered overnight can be told to leave before the shelter's normal closing time without good cause. A single shelter site cannot hold more than 150 clients without assembly approval, though a mayor-declared civil emergency extended by the assembly can raise that cap and let the site keep operating at the higher count for up to a year after the emergency ends. 050, the health department separately designates safe parking areas on public or private property where people can sleep overnight in a vehicle as temporary living quarters, exempt from any Title 21 zoning permit.

No safe parking site may hold more than 25 vehicles (recreational vehicles and travel trailers included) without a waiver for good cause. Approved sites must provide potable water and restroom access, screening from neighboring uses, trash removal, and at least three days' notice before closing. Junk vehicles and general camping are barred from safe parking areas, and designation is entirely discretionary: the department can grant or revoke it at any time, with or without cause.