Anchorage health officials outline phased plan for Alaska Center for Treatment at Golden Lion

Anchorage health officials on March 5 told the Public Health and Safety Committee they are moving toward a phased redevelopment of the Golden Lion facility into the Alaska Center for Treatment, a low‑barrier substance use disorder treatment site funded in part by proceeds from the Municipality’s past sale of Municipal Light & Power.

"We have 4 main goal areas," Thea Agnewbemben of the mayor’s office told the committee while introducing the city’s broader public health strategy; Anchorage Health Department Director Kimberly Rasch then detailed the Golden Lion plan. Rasch said the municipality has engaged architects and engineers and expects site and structural work to continue before an operator is selected via a forthcoming request for proposals.

Why it matters: The Golden Lion project is intended to provide integrated transitional housing and outpatient substance use treatment for South Central Alaska, a region officials said previously lacked sufficient treatment capacity. Committee members pressed officials on how the facility will be funded and whether short‑term federal rental assistance or Medicaid billing will support relocation and operations.

What officials told the committee

• Design and site work: Rasch said maintenance and operations has a purchase order with Birkhoff Croft for conceptual design and a code study; architects walked the second‑floor space in January and sent concept sketches to Kaufman Engineers to confirm structural feasibility. She described plans for a second floor with large and small meeting rooms, quiet spaces and administrative offices for an operator.

• Phased decompression and relocation: Rasch said within the next six months the health department will "engage with the current operator that is operating that facility that has residents there, at the location to put together a phased approach to decompressing the location so that construction can occur inside the facility." She said the administration will identify funds to move residents without displacing or disrupting them.

• Funding and sustainability: Rasch and Agnewbemben said the project is intended to be subsidized in operation through Medicaid billing and other payers; officials referenced the state’s 1115 Medicaid authority as expanding billing options for behavioral‑health services. Agnewbemben warned that federal cuts to Medicaid would threaten the facility’s sustainability and the broader health system.

• Origins and legal context: Rasch traced the concept to a recommendation that followed the 2018–19 consent decree and said a provision of the Municipal Light & Power (ML&P) sale requires the municipality to spend $15,000,000 toward planning, permitting, design and construction of the Alaska Center for Treatment.

• Next steps and schedule: Rasch said MNO and planning are finalizing site improvement drawings to meet Title 21 regulatory requirements; the health department and administration will develop an RFP over the next four to six months seeking an operator to pair intensive outpatient services with existing transitional housing. Officials said estimates of relocation costs remain under development until design and phasing are settled.

Quotations from officials

"The RFP will seek an operator to layer intensive outpatient treatment to the existing transitional housing portion of the facility," Rasch said. Agnewbemben added that the municipality is "still kind of working" through whether occupants will move in phases and what relocation costs will be.

Context and constraints

Officials told the committee that recently announced Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) funds are short‑term and, under federal rules for the municipality’s ERA tranche, must be obligated by September and expended by December with final reporting requirements after that; Agnewbemben said those timing limits mean ERA funds are unlikely to cover Golden Lion relocation costs. She said other options under consideration include HUD funding and other local sources. Committee members emphasized workforce concerns, noting that buildings alone do not solve staffing shortages; officials said the 1115 Medicaid options and peer/community‑based staffing models can support hiring and billing mix.

Where this goes next

Rasch said the health department will present a fuller Golden Lion update at a future committee meeting and bring an RFP to the administration for procurement once design work and phased relocation plans are complete.