moving to anchorage with kids, no job (Hope: low income, apartment)

[Kaa]

I'm moving to Anchorage with 2 teenage kids, no other choices left. No job, very little money beside some Social Security, over 60. Any ideas what I can do there to get going?

[gobrien]

How can a person with dependants think their only choice is to move to a different community with no job? Where are you coming from? It's very expensive to live in Anchorage. If you were moving from a small town in Alaska that might be more understandable.

Waiting lists for most low income housing is at least a year long. Please tell us more about your situation.

[stiffnecked]

I sure hope you have family to stay with. It's not a place for the poor, broke and destitute. Hopefully the teenagers are old enough to get jobs at McDonalds and WalMart. It'll take everyone pitching in to make it work.

[roadfamily6now]

Well, let me tell ya. In October 2011 my SIL and her family came up here with the intention of finding a job and getting an apartment. 2 able-bodies adults, 3 children. They were SUPPOSED to be coming up with enough money to get an apartment and get started. they did not. They have been in our home for since Oct 27th. Jobs are in high demand because there are not enough to go around, even those minimum wage jobs. It's been 7 months and FINALLY they are getting on their feet and have steady work.
They were lucky they had family here or else they would be living on the street.

Please don't think that Anchorage is your last hope. It's terribly expensive to live here and the programs available for low income families are stretched to the limit. Wait times for housing is between 12 and 18 months.

Where are you currently and what options are available to you locally?

[LittleJazzyP]

I don't know where you are now, but I do know this:

Moving to Alaska with no job and no prospects (I assume you are from out of state) is only going to deplete the limited resources you have now.

I did it, for personal and very foolish reasons, but I had some money in the bank (gone now) and no kids, and it is still a bit of a struggle. It is expensive to get here, even if you bring almost none of your possessions, and it's expensive to live here, too. I don't like to waste my time on regrets, but there are a lot of other choices I could have made that might have been much easier. I wish I had explored some of them.

Please don't think of Anchorage as your last option. No single place ever is.

[Kaa]

I live in one of the world's poorest countries and have been living overseas for 25 years. It's no longer possible to make enough here to support a family. Anchorage is the only place I have relatives in the US. There's nowhere else for us to go.

[Crazee Cat Lady]

Do you have job experience or are you able to work full time?
How old are the teenagers coming with you? Are they old enough to get a part time job
at McDonalds or Walmart or someplace like that?
Can your family help in Anchorage help you in any way?

[Grannysroost]

If you have been living in a foreign country for 25 years,...How do you have SS, and how are you getting to Anchorage...I would go someplace else if my retirement years that is cheaper to live on SS, as you cannot have much built up...

[Dakster]

As I understand the situation...

First, American Citizen living overseas and paying taxes is how you can get SS... Second, the OP said he/she has family in Anchorage...

Hopefully, the family in Anchorage will be able to help out with at least a place to stay and basic needs until the person gets up and going.

Can't help with actual knowledge of job prospects, but it appears the tourist/summer season, you *should* be able to find some sort of temp job at the worst. Numerous threads here on temp. summer work.

Either way, I wish you luck.

[Kaa]

I appreciate the posts in reply to mine. On the other hand, I didn't get on this forum to be asked how it is I've lived overseas for so long but can get Soc Sec, or to be told that Anchorage is expensive, or cold, or all the rest. I'm not an idiot and I'm not posting for people to ask me questions. I'm on this forum looking for suggestions about how to make it in Anchorage given my situation; so far I've gotten nothing useful. We're going, and that's how it is - I need ideas about jobs and housing and all the rest. If you don't have anything to say, skip it. Thank you.