The Anchorage Health Department will present AM346-2025 at the Assembly meeting on June 10 seeking approval of five existing homeless shelter licenses, department staff told the Assembly during a June 6 work session.

Health department staff said they updated the item after Assembly Housing and Homelessness Committee feedback and attached key documents — the application, fire inspection, Health Department inspection (and in one case a reinspection), plus the Good Neighbor policy — to the addendum version that will appear on Tuesday’s packet. Kimberly Rash, Anchorage Health Department, said the department also posted the full PDF application online and made paper applications available to reduce barriers for applicants.

The changes follow committee direction to “streamline ways to reduce any barriers and burdens internally and externally,” Rash said. Assembly members discussed whether the attachments included the right level of detail — some prior application packages were as long as 346 pages — and agreed the department selected the highest‑level items it deemed prudent to support the licensing decision.

Discussion focused on the ordinance’s original intent, implementation burdens and procedural protections. Assembly member Felix Rivera read the ordinance’s purpose and intent (AO2021-55 S1) on the record, including that the chapter “establish[es] minimum standards of care and operation for homeless shelters … and that the requirements of this chapter are not intended to be overly burdensome on homeless shelter operators.” Rivera asked whether the department’s work on the three licenses met that 2021 intent; Rash said the implementation was a large lift for the department but that it had met the health‑and‑safety aspects of the licensing.

Members asked several follow‑ups: whether the licenses are for existing facilities (Rash: “Correct. Yes. They have been in existence.”); what happens if the Assembly declines approval (Rash: facilities continue to operate under a provisional license established in 2023); and whether the Assembly’s approval process for shelter licenses should be treated as quasi‑judicial rather than the current public‑hearing format.

Assembly member Keith McCormick and others pressed the administration to explain the benefits of licensing given many shelters already operate and some receive municipal funds by contract or grant. Thea Agnew Bemben, Mayor’s Office, said licensing provides a baseline health and safety oversight for any shelter receiving municipal funds and can give the municipality leverage similar to licensing for child care.

Members raised specific gaps in Good Neighbor agreements. Assembly member Baldwin Day noted that the Good Neighbor agreements for Brother Francis Shelter and Clare House (Catholic Social Services) did not specify the neighborhood complaint/response steps in the agreement’s designated block; she said that omission undermines the tool’s purpose and asked that the department require that section to be completed in future submissions.

Several members asked staff to obtain Assembly Counsel guidance on whether shelter licensing should be moved to a quasi‑judicial section; the administration said it would follow up. The department also said it is exploring unilateral operational steps — such as unannounced spot checks similar to child care licensing — that could be implemented internally without a code change.

The work session did not include a formal vote on AM346-2025; the item remains scheduled for the June 10 Assembly meeting with the updated addendum and attachments.