The Brother Francis Shelter is trying to be a good neighbor in its community -- but with an increase in Anchorage's homeless population, officials say that’s sometimes hard to do.
In the past five years, the homeless shelter has seen a 25 percent increase in people using its services.
Neighbors of the shelter say they continue to see trash and inebriates on the streets, which is partially why the city is asking the non-profit to step up its game in being a good neighbor.
Ron Alleva is one of those neighbors; he’s been fighting a hard fight these past few years. His business is right next door to Brother Francis and Bean's Café.
“The last time I got robbed was three weeks ago and they stole over $4,000 worth of tools,” said Alleva.
According to the Anchorage Police Department, more than 1,000 calls came in from that immediate area in 2013.
The executive director of Brother Francis operator Catholic Social Services, Susan Bomalaski, said a majority of those calls are health-related and about one call per day is for a violent episode.
“When people are outside the shelter, sometimes there’s not a lot we can do except on our property,” said Bomalaski.
As for the trash and inebriates, they're issues Bomalaski says the non-profit is actively working on.
“We’re stepping up our trash pickup and we’re really working on getting that policeman down there to see if we can mitigate the off-site impacts,” Bomalaski said.
On Monday, Brother Francis was asked to provide a status update on the conditions outside the shelter in front of the municipality’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
Bomalaski says the number of homeless people in Anchorage has grown dramatically, going from serving more than 3,000 people to almost 3,800 people in the last five years -- a number she says the shelter can’t handle on its own.
“We have to work as a community to address that together; we can’t do that by ourselves,” Bomalaski said.
Alleva said he hasn’t seen much of a difference in any of the changes Brother Francis is making.
“You’ve told too many misinterpretations and you haven’t followed through on your promises,” Alleva said.
For Brother Francis, being a good neighbor is one of its top priorities.
“We want to provide a needed and necessary service partnership with the entire community of Anchorage,” Said Bomalaski.
Brother Francis is expected to give another status update in June.
Until then, the shelter hopes to renew its memorandum with the Fairview Community Council and hire a police officer to help mitigate the off-site problems.