The City of Fairbanks is committing $40,000 in stopgap funding to the organization that operates Fairbanks’ only overnight, low-barrier warming center. The Fairbanks City Council approved the funds Monday as part of a larger budget amendment ordinance.
Savannah Fletcher, the board vice president for HopeLink, told the council that amount equates to about one month of expenses.
She said private donations have funded the warming center almost entirely in the three seasons it’s been operating. But she said the city funds are needed for it to stay open until April 30 this year, the target end date.
“This is clearly a sign that we need a more sustainable plan, as a community, for such a center moving forward. But just to get through this winter, I really encourage and ask for your support,” she said.
Fairbanks experienced stubborn cold spells earlier this winter, getting the longest stretch of subzero temperatures since 1953, according to the National Weather Service. Fletcher says HopeLink, which has been leasing space in an old fire station downtown to run the center, has averaged about 80 sign-ins per night so far this season. That’s an increase from visitation figures the organization has reported in previous years.
City of Fairbanks Mayor Mindy O’Neall had included about $35,000 for HopeLink as a supplemental request in her proposed budget for the current fiscal year. But the item failed to gain support from council members in December, when they approved the final budget.
Councilmember Valerie Therrien said she didn’t catch the mayor’s request during budget season, and she moved to add the one-time funds for the center Monday. She said that’s just to help the six-person HopeLink board in the near term – and that a more permanent solution is necessary.
“Obviously, six members of our community can’t continue this much longer. The place is definitely overcrowded. It’s not suitable. The plumbing is not good. And this is just an interim,” she said.
Council members generally backed the move, though some said they hoped it won’t be repeated in years to come. Councilmember Jerry Cleworth said the city doesn’t financially support a number of nonprofits and community groups that could also use more funds. He gave the example of the Rescue Mission, which runs an overnight shelter in Fairbanks but requires people to be sober, unlike HopeLink’s low-barrier warming center.
“I wouldn’t mind in an emergency situation, doing the funding, but I do not want it to be an expectation, and it should not be a part of the budget, to me, in the future,” he said.
O’Neall, the mayor, said the city does have a role to play in the service. She said that’s why she’d proposed funding for HopeLink as a budget item, and that even $40,000 is just a Band-Aid.
“I think that we really need to consider how we’re going to support this effort or help find a solution in the future because this problem is not going away,” O’Neall said.
The council voted unanimously to pass Therrien’s motion and include the $40,000 in a budget amendment ordinance, which also passed Monday.
HopeLink’s warming center is open nightly 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. It’s located at 659 5th Avenue.