Homeless People in Nome? (Fairbanks, Ketchikan: houses, rent, hotel)

[gorditagringo]

Are there any homeless people in Nome? I think there is a mission there on Front Street? ... the reason I ask. I use to live in Ketchikan AK and then traveled all over the state (except Nome) when I moved back to Missouri. If I decided to sell everything I own and come to Nome to start a new life for myself what are my chances? This would be in the summer of course. I'm a good worker, not a lazy bum. I just miss the uniqueness that is Alaska. Thoughts and opinions waned.

[User 2]

What would that have to do with whether there are any homeless people in Nome?

You can pretty much bet there are homeless in just about any urban area of any size.

With the economic outlook, it's not likely there will soon be less of a homeless problem.

.
..

[rotorhead]

Driving around Juneau last October I saw what had to be one of the most miserable homeless guys around. It was raining cats and dogs (gee, go figure) and he was hunched up in an old Army style poncho against a traffic control box, just soaking up the spray from traffic and the downpour from above. Just caught a flash of him in passing...yikes, what a way to live.

I don't understand why anyone would stick around homeless in Alaska after the first snow falls, except that many of them are just not right in the head.

[stiffnecked]

I think I know you Gordita. Didn't you work at Alaska Airlines and live in a Ford Escort station wagon in KTN ? I don't think Nome has a homeless shelter like the one on Park St. in Ketchikan. But you can camp out on the east beach in a tent for free until you find something else. Plus they have showers over at the rec center.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by rotorhead

Driving around Juneau last October I saw what had to be one of the most miserable homeless guys around. It was raining cats and dogs (gee, go figure) and he was hunched up in an old Army style poncho against a traffic control box, just soaking up the spray from traffic and the downpour from above. Just caught a flash of him in passing...yikes, what a way to live.

I don't understand why anyone would stick around homeless in Alaska after the first snow falls, except that many of them are just not right in the head.

I can think of one good reason: the remote location of Alaska. It takes a long time to get from a place like Chicago to a place like Miami or Atlanta if you don't have a car. Alaska is closer to northern Russia than it is the USA.

[icarian]

True, but the WINTERS here (especially Interior / West Coast) are so brutal that if I were in that position long term, I'd be trying to escape said locale and its winters. May or may not be possible, but a sunny location would be my hope in such situation. No, I haven't been in such a situation so I know I can't quite relate.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by icarian

True, but the WINTERS here (especially Interior / West Coast) are so brutal that if I were in that position long term, I'd be trying to escape said locale and its winters. May or may not be possible, but a sunny location would be my hope in such situation. No, I haven't been in such a situation so I know I can't quite relate.

I lot of people from the lower-48 just can't understand that one can freeze and die in a short order around Fairbanks in the winter months. Every winter several people die, some young, some old. A few drinks followed by a short walk, and then a nap on the snow....and so the story repeats itself each year. And then during the summer we see Fire Rescue pulling the floaters out of the Chena (maybe those who freeze during the winter, and then float during the summer?).

[User 2]

Ah, yes...

...the rather morbid adage which explains when 'Spring' has finally arrived.

That's when they find the 'break-up bodies'.

Those are the people that 'disappear' under the snow during a winter, and they aren't found until the snow starts to melt.

Inevitably, it seems, there are several every year in various parts of the state.
.
..

[stiffnecked]

When I was in Barrow we found two guys still sitting on there snowmachine about 8 feet underwater over at Freshwater Lake. They had been there about 5 months. A local pilot flying out to Wainwright just happened to spot something in the lake that didn't look right. I couldn't really hear what the diver from Search and Rescue was saying when he pulled the first body out but it sounded like "look!! his timex is still ticking!!!" They were a morbid bunch....

[nomeralaska]

Originally Posted by gorditagringo

Are there any homeless people in Nome? I think there is a mission there on Front Street? ... the reason I ask. I use to live in Ketchikan AK and then traveled all over the state (except Nome) when I moved back to Missouri. If I decided to sell everything I own and come to Nome to start a new life for myself what are my chances? This would be in the summer of course. I'm a good worker, not a lazy bum. I just miss the uniqueness that is Alaska. Thoughts and opinions waned.

Hello gordita. I visited Nome a year ago. Befor I went I googled the rescue mission tele and called. The man told me it had burned down and ther was no money to rebuild. I went anyway with some money. The local churches told me they werent set up to offer assistance to new comers ( not even a space on the floor) mind you. The halfway house told me they only take court-ordered persons. As with many small towns work can be hard to find for a new- comer ( do you catch my drift). Private sector job opportunities are'nt as plentifull as at Juneau. Google the Nome Rescue Mission and talk to the man befor you go, maybe it is reopened by now. Think carefully, Nome is very remote and winter is very long and very cold. Dont misunderstand me, I wish you the very best. Be sure to have a reservation at a hotel and enough money to survive until you get work. I couldnt believe it to learn from homeless people there that they actually crawl under houses to sleep and when the weather becomes deadly. I could'nt stomach a town with such a disreguard for other humans and I did'nt even stay. Perhaps reconsider a not-so-remote or lethal Alaska location.