ANCHORAGE, Alaska — As temperatures drop, Alaska's homeless population struggles to survive the winter cold. A three-day conference in Anchorage aims to figure out how to help Alaska's homeless.
Tuesday, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness Deputy Director Jennifer Ho shared President Obama's vision for fixing the problem.
She said the key to getting people off the street is finding them jobs and affordable housing. In Anchorage, advocates for the homeless say that's tough to do.
“Housing is a very difficult and complicated issue, when you talk about the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, the Section 8 vouchers, the most common way that someone can get subsidized housing, and their wait list in Anchorage alone is over 4,000 people,” said Suzi Pearson, the volunteer chairperson of the Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness.
On the agenda for the conference are discussions about civil rights for the homeless, re-entry into society after prison and homeless youth
