A $2.39 million tent structure bought in former Mayor Dave Bronson’s early days as Anchorage’s mayor as a quick-fix shelter but was never used will finally have a purpose.
Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance on Tuesday announced a solution for the “inherited problem”: The city-owned Port of Alaska will buy the structure and use it as warm storage for sand, maintenance equipment and offices during upgrades over the next decade. The sale proceeds will be used to address homelessness for this upcoming winter.
“We are happy to see an inherited problem turn into a triple win for the community,” she said in a prepared statement. “Turning an expensive logistical issue into an elegant solution which serves multiple community users and accomplishes the original goal of addressing homelessness is a perfect example of the power of approaching government as a team.”
The tent structure was at the heart of the conservative former mayor’s approach to homelessness. Bronson never saw the tent deployed—or even shipped to Alaska—as he battled with the Anchorage Assembly over costs and logistics that quickly ballooned beyond what had been pitched as a simple and cost-effective shelter. For example, the initial proposal by the Bronson administration lacked furniture and bathrooms.
Opponents of the tent structure said it was too expensive for what would ultimately be a temporary solution, arguing that investments in renovating existing structures and other programs would yield better results. Bronson was caught spending millions of dollars without permission to prepare a site for the tent structure, which ultimately doomed the project politically. Eventually, Bronson and the Assembly agreed to open what would become a year-round shelter at a vacant city-owned building.
The tent structure, meanwhile, has sat unused in Utah and Canada, costing the city about $5,000 per month in storage fees.
Under the agreement announced by LaFrance, the Port will take over those fees and the $11 to $13 million needed to transport and construct the tent to the port. The port will fund the purchase and other costs with some $2 billion in infrastructure funds for an extensive upgrade and modernization of the port.
In LaFrance’s statement, she said the city will put the money it receives for the sale of the tent toward shelter and other homelessness programs this winter. The sale will need to be approved by the Anchorage Assembly, which is set to be taken up later this month.
At Tuesday night’s Assembly meeting, LaFrance said she’s looking forward to moving on.
“I’m glad we’re moving beyond the Sprung Structure debate to a real solution that benefits the port and puts the money toward tackling homelessness,” she said.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
