<body><div>The Municipality of Anchorage is preparing for the winter ahead and looking for community organizations willing to operate an overnight emergency shelter during periods of extreme cold.Officials say the goal is to make sure people have a warm place to go when existing shelters and emergency resources reach capacity.Thea Agnew Bemben, special assistant to Mayor Suzanne LaFrance, says the city wants to avoid a situation where shelters are full and first responders have nowhere to take people during dangerous weather."What we didn't want to have happen is have the shelters be full, have the safety center be full, and have nowhere for first responders to take people when they needed a place to be out of the cold."The proposed shelter would only open overnight during extreme cold, giving people a warm place to sleep when demand exceeds existing shelter space.The city is seeking proposals from community organizations that can provide temporary, night-only shelter."What we wanted to do to prepare for this winter is to put out an RFP so that we could solicit interest from community organizations."The effort follows last winter's harsh weather, which led to an increase in frostbite and other cold-related injuries in Anchorage."We had a lot of cold injury this winter—a lot of frostbite. People lose their fingers and toes, sometimes their limbs, which of course is there's a lifetime impact."Officials say the shelter is still needed even as Anchorage's latest Point-in-Time Count found fewer people living unsheltered.Bemben says the count showed nearly a 30% decline in the number of people counted as unsheltered, dropping from about 400 to about 290.Some residents say adding emergency shelter space for the upcoming winter is a step in the right direction.Kevin Harun, an Anchorage resident, says he supports the idea of an overnight emergency shelter."I think it's a good idea that they create an emergency center for people at night. Because I walk downtown, I see people all over at night and I wonder whether they're dead or alive."Leann Taylor, an Anchorage resident, also supports the plan, saying it could help keep people off the streets during freezing temperatures."I think it's a good idea. That way they'd be off the streets. That way there's not lots of deaths around here because it gets cold here."The request for proposal for the emergency nighttime-only winter shelter is due in early August.</div></body>

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The Municipality of Anchorage is preparing for the winter ahead and looking for community organizations willing to operate an overnight emergency shelter during periods of extreme cold. Officials say the goal is to make sure people have a warm place to go when existing shelters and emergency resources reach capacity.

Anchorage seeks help opening overnight shelter for extreme cold

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The Municipality of Anchorage is preparing for the winter ahead and looking for community organizations willing to operate an overnight emergency shelter d

Anchorage seeks help opening overnight shelter for extreme cold

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