Anchorage to pilot 24 micro‑unit 'recovery residences' with opioid‑settlement funds

Anchorage municipal staff told the Assembly Housing and Homelessness Committee on May 21 that the city plans a two‑year pilot to develop 24 single‑occupancy micro units to operate as recovery residences for people experiencing homelessness and substance use disorder.

"We want to pilot this over a two‑year period. We want to do 24 units, use the recovery residence model, and try it out for two years starting this fall," said Thea Agnew Bemben, Special Assistant to Mayor LaFrance, who presented the project overview to the committee.

The project pairs small, quick‑to‑install housing units (roughly 80–100 square feet each) with a program model that requires resident participation in recovery services. Staff said clinical and peer support services provided at the site are billable to Medicaid and other payors, and that the pilot includes start‑up funding to test whether operating revenue can sustain services after launch.

Why it matters: committee members were shown a budget plan and a near‑term schedule because the administration plans to request Assembly authorization to use opioid settlement funds. Staff said $500,000 would fund procurement and start‑up for a recovery‑service operator and that approximately $1.2 million would be requested to ACDA (Anchorage Community Development Authority) to run an RFP for unit construction and site development. The health department reported about…