Resources in this section illustrate impacts of the pandemic on housing security and indicate how difficult it is to separate housing insecurity from food insecurity. This review does not attempt to provide a quantitative analysis of federal allocation of CARES Act relief funds—that data is available on the Treasury Department’s CARES Act online database. The review does indicate that regarding effects on housing security, CARES Act funds were primarily used to provide rent, mortgage, and utilities relief to residents, rather than to create and expand housing solutions.

Early, W. “Under Dunleavy’s new CARES Act distribution, Northwest Arctic Borough gets considerably more funding.” KTOO, May 5, 2020. https://www.ktoo.org/2020/05/06/under-dunleavys-new-cares-act-distribution-rural-boroughs-will-get-more-funding/.

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s original budget, signed in May 2020, was revised due to apparent confusion among state officials regarding how funds from the CARES Act could be used. In the revised budget, the governor walked back many line-item vetoes that were originally justified on the grounds that municipalities could make up the funds with COVID-19 relief money. Northwest Arctic Borough Mayor Lucy Nelson questioned whether the Borough would be able to use CARES Act funding if it couldn’t be applied to things like school bond debt, in which case they would likely have to return the money.

Rodenberger, Jordan. “Congressman Young Uses $3.5 Million in CARES Act Funds for Alaska Native COVID Response.” KTVF, July 28, 2020. https://www.webcenterfairbanks.com/2020/07/29/congressman-young-uses-35-million-in-cares-act-funds-for-alaska-native-covid-response/.

This article covers a press release from Congressman Don Young’s office announcing the disbursement of funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Indian Community Development Block Grant (through the CARES Act) to several communities: “The Circle Native Community, the Native Village of Tanacross, the Organized Village of Kake and the Organized Village of Saxman will each receive about $900,000 to address overcrowded shelters, homelessness, water infrastructure, and other projects.”

Smith, RB. “Rural Housing Crisis Intensified by COVID-19 Pandemic.” Nome Nugget, August 7, 2020. http://www.nomenugget.com/news/rural-housing-crisis-intensified-covid-19-pandemic.

This Nome newspaper article explored issues with prevailing data on overcrowding and homelessness, funding complications, and how these factors accelerated COVID’s spread in the Bering Strait region. It is an excellent overview of how the pandemic exacerbated housing insecurity in many areas of Alaska.

In Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island, about 60 percent of households were overcrowded. A 2018 housing assessment found that the Nome Census area was the third most overcrowded region in the state (14 percent of households overcrowded and 13 percent severely overcrowded). The hub city of Nome is much less overcrowded than the region’s villages, which had an “overcrowding rate of approximately 37 percent, and a severe overcrowding rate of 19 percent, meaning that more than half of regional households outside of Nome are overcrowded.” The assessment also found that 20 percent of homes in the region had no ventilation, correlating with a high risk for respiratory illness. “Alaska had the highest rates of tuberculosis in the country according to a 2019 report, and Alaska Natives died at rates four times the national average from the 2009 H1N1 flu.” 

The main source of housing funding for villages is the Indian Housing Block Grant, and resources are pooled into the Bering Strait Regional Housing Authority (BSRHA), which focuses on one community per year. The Indian Housing Block Grant has never been adjusted for inflation or the cost of freight; by 2017 it had 28 percent less purchasing power than it did when it was established over 20 years earlier. HUD estimated the region would need about 1,000 new homes to alleviate its housing shortage, costing close to half a billion dollars. The annual budget of the Indian Housing Office, which runs housing programs for Indigenous people across the U.S., was $600 million. BSRHA’s 2018 budget was $5.8 million and included staff salaries and office space in addition to funds for building new homes. The last time it was Savoonga’s turn for BSRHA funding, the village got four new houses and a duplex but could not expect more development for a decade. A 2018 HUD report found that “if construction rates continue at their current pace, they will not be able to keep up with projected population demand.”

Homelessness assistance is allocated by HUD based on an annual “point in time count.” Large cities have well-staffed and organized teams to get accurate counts while “smaller rural communities often don’t even know the count is going on.” Nome homeless advocate Sue Steinacher said that some years, people in the Nome Emergency Shelter Team (NEST) were the only homeless people counted in all of rural Alaska, and so the vast majority of the state is unable to receive any homeless assistance funding. Steinacher has long argued that village overcrowding is actually homelessness. “My point year after year was that Native families are not going to put another Native family out on the street to literally freeze to death,” she said. Instead, village residents whose houses have collapsed or who can’t afford their heating bills are forced to move in with neighbors, even if there’s no space for them. “And those people deserve to be counted,” Steinacher said.

Among the many administrative barriers small villages face, securing funds for housing, high turnover is a chronic problem. The article notes, “If communication between the tribe, BSRHA, and other regional and state entities becomes interrupted, it can set building projects back years,” and “sometimes when personnel rolls over, records are lost, and negotiations have to start from scratch.”

McKenney, Hope. “With Food Insecurity On The Rise In Unalaska, Qawalangin Tribe Prepares To Start Food Bank.” KUCB, September 11, 2020. https://www.kucb.org/health/2020-09-10/with-food-insecurity-on-the-rise-in-unalaska-qawalangin-tribe-prepares-to-start-food-bank.

In this article, McKenney covers the Aleutian Housing Authority’s decision to use $392,000 in coronavirus relief funding to build a food bank facilitated by the Qawalangin Tribe. According to USAFV Director M. Lynn Crane, the area had seen a 27 percent increase in residents seeking resources at the Unalaska Food Bank over the previous year, with the pandemic “affecting people who may have never experienced food insecurity in the past.” Because of the impact on panic buying and supply chains, some tribal members had had a 25 percent increase in their grocery bills during the pandemic, making consistent access to healthy foods inaccessible for many.

Smith, RB. “Diomede Demonstrates Resilience Dealing with COVID-19.” Nome Nugget, September 4, 2020. http://www.nomenugget.com/news/diomede-demonstrates-resilience-dealing-covid-19.

Little Diomede, a small island, faced a plethora of barriers to resources during the pandemic, including: lack of adequate internet; lack of running water and a certified water plant operator (making it difficult to maintain hygiene and keep up with water infrastructure repairs); a lack of basic kitchens, making it hard for people to isolate; poor ventilation in homes and communal buildings; and thinning river ice in the winter month, making it impossible to build temporary ice runways. Although the $490,000 allocated to the village by the federal CARES Act was allocated to help address these issues, as of September 2020, none of the funds were spent because of the unclear rules governing how the funding can be used. Diomede’s leadership responded by using a grant from Norton Sound Health Corporation to buy 36 air purifiers, distributing hand sanitizer to all homes and expanding delivery services for basic necessities like fuel, and transforming their tribal office into quarantine housing for overcrowded houses.

Nelson, L. CARES Act Community Distribution Plan: Mayor’s Message. September 25, 2020. https://nwabcovid.org/.

In a letter addressed to Northwest Arctic Borough residents, Borough Mayor Lucy Nelson announced that the Borough had received the first allotment of CARES Act funding ($4,077,540.34 distributed in one allotment of $3,691,707, and two subsequent allotments of $192,917 each), allocated by the state according to a formula allocation method established for each community. The letter explained that the State required funds only be utilized to pay “necessary expenses incurred as a result of the public health emergency stemming from COVID-19 for expenses that were not accounted for in its most recent budget approved of March 27, 2020,” including expenses related to direct emergency response and “second-order effects,” such as economic support for struggling individuals and businesses. The letter asserted that spending would be “carefully scrutinized” by the Mayor, Borough Treasurer, CARES Act Technical Assistance Providers, and approved by the Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly to ensure compliance.

Westlake, F. CARES Act Community Distribution Plan: NWAB Community & Economic Development Director Message. October 15, 2020. https://nwabcovid.org.

In a letter published on the Northwest Arctic Borough website, Community & Economic Development Director Fritz Westlake described the details of the department’s approach to dispensing economic relief, which would consist of assistance for electricity and water / sewer bills, or stove oil for heating, distributed directly to utility providers. Each household was limited to $500 in utility relief, paid on a first-come, first-serve basis, and was required to apply online or in-person in the narrow time window between October 19 and November 9.

Goodykoontz, Emily. “Anchorage Rental Assistance Program Is Exhausted While Need ‘remains Significant,’ Acting Mayor Says.” Anchorage Daily News, November 13, 2020. https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2020/11/13/anchorage-rental-assistance-program-is-exhausted-while-need-remains-significant-acting-mayor-says/.

According to this news article, the $20 million in CARES Act funding devoted to providing financial assistance to residents for rent and mortgages was set to be exhausted by early December 2020. About $9 million was distributed by November 2020 “in more than 9,000 payments to 4,000 households in need,” according to the mayor’s office. 

Kindle, Kalinda. “MyHouse to Be Awarded $690,808.” Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, November 19, 2020. https://www.ahfc.us/blog/posts/myhouse-be-awarded-690808-grant-alaska-housing-finance-corporation-respond-mat-sus-homeless-youth-during-covid-19.

This Alaska Home Finance Corporation blog post covered the use of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) emergency solutions funding for grants to non-profit organizations like MyHouse in the Mat-Su borough. According to The Mat-Su Alliance to End Youth Homelessness Coordinated Community Plan, there were approximately 1,205 homeless youth in the area and the “leading barrier for housing homeless and at-risk youth is the ‘lack of emergency/crisis shelter,’” with the pandemic amplifying these barriers. The $700,000 grant allowed MyHouse to “increase its street outreach that includes food, sanitation, first aid and hygiene items to youth on the street and transportation to connect them to services in addition to supporting an expansion to Saturday drop-in services to comply with social distancing requirements for youth guests and staff.”

City of Unalaska. “Unalaska COVID-19 Response Survey 2021.” International Port of Dutch Harbor, 2021. https://www.ci.unalaska.ak.us/planning/page/community-surveys.

In late 2020, the Unalaska Emergency Operations Center sought feedback on the city’s COVID-19 response. According to the 2021 report, almost half (44 percent) of respondents’ work hours were affected by the pandemic and 5 percent of respondents were laid off. 35 percent of respondents were not aware of rent/mortgage payment assistance and none of the respondents had used these services.

Hsieh, Jeremy. “Juneau Assembly Reverses Itself on Eligibility for Both Housing and Individual Grants.” KTOO, December 22, 2020. https://www.ktoo.org/2020/12/22/watch-juneau-assembly-considers-late-changes-to-pandemic-relief-programs/.

This article describes votes and actions by the Juneau Assembly related to pandemic relief programs funded by the city’s portion of CARES Act relief money, and efforts to reallocate and spend remaining funds ahead of the year-end deadline. At the time of publication, roughly one week before the December 31, 2020 deadline, Congress had just passed a bill to extend the deadline one year, but due to uncertainty around whether President Trump would sign or veto the bill, the Juneau Assembly was considering four emergency measures intended to reallocate $1 million in unspent funds for programs the Assembly had over-budgeted, including a testing program to detect COVID-19 in wastewater, subsidies for the school district’s childcare program, and a local business grant program.

The Assembly also had to revise programs to provide housing and utility assistance and individual assistance grants. For both programs, surges in applications in the final hour far outstripped the funds available to pay the promised $3,000 in housing and utility assistance for households with income less than $92,240 and $2,000 in individual assistance grants for adults earning less than $58,900 per year. In an attempt to reach more people with smaller payments, the Assembly considered cutting the maximum award down from $3,000 to $2,000 for housing and utility assistance and making individual grant recipients ineligible to also receive housing assistance. The Assembly ultimately decided against both measures.

Kim, Greg. “Soaring Lumber Prices Worsen Housing Shortage in Y-K Delta.” KTOO, June 10, 2021. https://www.ktoo.org/2021/06/10/soaring-lumber-prices-worsen-housing-shortage-in-y-k-delta/.

This article covers the rise in lumber prices during the pandemic, its impact on the housing shortage and construction of new homes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and how CARES Act funds had had an impact. Approximately 40 percent of the homes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta were overcrowded, according to the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. Demand for new homes in the region was estimated to be well over 1,000 units. Building costs were 80 percent higher than in previous years for materials, including lumber and sheet metal. The price of lumber produced and sold within the area was also increasing—not due to national market trends but due to increased wildfire insurance costs.

“Alaska Leads Nation In Distribution of Rent Relief.” Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, July 12, 2021. https://www.ahfc.us/blog/posts/alaska-leads-nation-distribution-rent-relief.

The federal COVID relief package passed in December 2020 made over $200 million in Emergency Rental Assistance available to Alaskans through Alaska Housing Rent Relief. As of July 12, 2021, the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) reported that every qualified applicant had either been approved or was in the final stages of approval to receive rent and utility relief, with more than $67 million in payments to over 38,000 Alaskans. The article describes AHFC’s success in rolling out an online application portal and hiring a team of “Relief Specialists” (134 employed for the program in total) to process applications and disburse funds as early as mid-February 2021. The program also involved collaboration with 15 tribal housing authorities and the Municipality of Anchorage who pooled funding to streamline the application process.

Caldwell, Nicole. “How Covid-19 Has Impacted Mortgage Payments in Every State.” Chicago Tribune, July 14, 2021. https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/careers-finance/sns-stacker-coronavirus-affected-mortgages-state-20210714-z5tvjv4yvzh5lpdsusvlu7wg2m-photogallery.html.

This article pulls from U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey data to evaluate COVID’s impact on mortgages in the state of Alaska. Key findings included:

• In 2021, 30 percent of Alaskan households reported falling behind on mortgage payments (8.2 percent greater than in 2020).
• 22.3 percent of households with lost income fell behind on their mortgage (23.3 percent less than in 2020).
• 18.5 percent of unemployed respondents fell behind on their mortgage (54.2 percent less than in 2020).
• The CARES Act provided the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation with the funds to distribute $1,200 one-time payments directly to mortgage lenders or landlords via lottery in June 2020. This helped approximately 2,000 low-income households avoid possible homelessness. 

Lerner, Julia. “NCC Works On Housing First Project To Combat Homelessness.” The Nome Nugget, August 6, 2021. http://www.nomenugget.com/news/ncc-works-housing-first-project-combat-homelessness.

Julia Lerner’s article, published after the COVID-19 eviction moratorium had expired and was reinstated, covers the anticipated impacts of a “housing first” initiative in Nome compared with a similar model’s impact in Juneau. Nome’s first responders were critically understaffed, but with housing first programs expected to decrease police contacts and need for a sleep off center, there was hope to ease this burden.

“Update on CARES Act Funding.” Koniag, August 16, 2021. https://www.koniag.com/update-on-cares-act-funding/.

On August 16, 2021, Koniag announced they had received $6.78 million from the Department of Treasury and would begin building an application process in coordination with the Department of Treasury to ensure compliance with federal spending guidelines. The announcement states that the distribution plan would incorporate Shareholder feedback received as part of a COVID-19 impact survey conducted in fall 2020, along with input from in-region nonprofits serving Shareholders and Descendants. Koniag committed to absorb any administrative costs in order to utilize 100 percent of the allocated funds for pandemic relief and assistance.

Section 3.2.1  Community Spend Plans Related to Housing Support

This subsection provides snapshots of spending through excerpts from community reports on how they spent CARES Act funding for issues related to housing.

Office of Management and Budget. “Community Coronavirus Relief Fund Spending Reports Summary.” State of Alaska Office of the Governor, August 31, 2021. https://omb.alaska.gov/information/omb-monthly-covid-19-reports/.

Updated versions of this spreadsheet were posted on a monthly basis on the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget website on the “COVID-19 Reports” page, along with PDF reports on COVID-19 federal funding to Alaska, Alaska coronavirus relief fund allocations and expenditures, monthly state COVID-19 expenditures, and additional links to COVID-19-related information and resources on education, health & social services, commerce & community development, nonprofit relief funds, and housing.

Relevant data tabs cover community Coronavirus relief fund grants award and distribution information by community (total payments broken into three installments, total eligible amount, award balance not yet disbursed, spending to date reported, percentage spent of distributed, and percentage spent of eligible); spending by federal reporting category by community (see column N for sum of housing support); and spending plans by community. In a copy of the spreadsheet updated August 31, 2021, communities were grouped geographically by ANC regions to summarize total regional monthly spending by federal reporting category.

Kiana – “Issued a fuel credit to households residing in Kiana for longer than 30 days who have been affected by COVID-19.”

Kotzebue – “Housing support for non-local police department staff during quarantine period in Kotzebue.”

Northwest Arctic Borough (NAB) – “NAB released an economic relief plan.  NAB is offering $500 in assistance to all households experiencing hardship due to the pandemic.  The funds will be paid directly to the vendors identified for the following: stove oil (heating homes) or utility payments (electric/water and sewer).  The website can be viewed at www.nwabcovid.org”

Aniak – August 2020: “Continue to order and keep on hand supplies such as PPE, hand sanitizer, water containers for households with no running water and distributing to the community. Finish remodeling of the Library and Fire Station for non-congregate housing.”

November 2020 – “The City of Aniak is also working on a Residential Heating Fuel Credit for all residents of Aniak for December 2020.”

Bethel – “The Bethel City Council allocated $535,000 in addition to what was budgeted to support a second round of Business Recovery Grants and $650,000 to support a new water and sewer infrastructure project.”

Hooper Bay – “Improving sanitation and improvement of public buildings to prepare for social distancing…. Quarantine facilities: sanitation, preparation, heating, and maintaining.”

Kongiganak – “To provide heating fuel for impacted households.” 

Kotlik – “We forgot to get stove oil for two homeowners.”

Nunam Iqua – “Expenditures will include: Purchases to insure that city owned public utilities remain functional and travel in support of infrastructure can be minimized. Salaries paid to healthy employees who cannot work from home when the Native Village of Nunam Iqua mandates a village lockdown or requires a household 14-day quarantine to prevent the spread of Covid-19; Materials and labor in support of construction of dome houses purchased by the Tribe to isolate individuals subject to the quarantine mandate. Heating Fuel Assistance for residential housing.”

Stony River – December 2020 – “Completed covid quarantine rehab house. Continue with Preventive measures: cleaning, distributing cleaning supplies and water and sewer rehab for homes that need it.”

February 2021 – “Continue to work on residential water and sewer up to functional and shop in person for necessary supplies that cannot be ordered online.”

Koliganek – $75,000 spent on housing support in December 2020

Kwigillingok – $300 spent in November 2020 and $560 spent in December 2020 on housing support.

Manokotak – $162,080 spent on housing support in December 2020

Newhalen – “Purchase of a new drinking water dispension for the school children; new water pump and tank to replace old equipment at the water pump house; other necessary water and sewer issues that may occur during the pandemic; economic support to community members; housing support for individuals coming from outside the village to quarantine since there are no other housing support in Newhalen.”

Pilot Point – June 2020 – “The City is looking to buy a property where the set netters can get their water so that they will not need to come into town. We are also looking into cleaning supplies for every household.”

November 2020 – “Assistance to the community is being discussed in the form of vouchers for fuel/electricity.”

Port Heiden – “Note that funding will be used to assist homeowners this winter. Fuel for heating homes.”

Haines Borough – $1,085,511.97 in housing support spent from May 2020 – June 2021.

Klukwan/Chilkat Native Village – $3,059 in housing support spent in September 2020

Kake – $14,400 spent on housing support in October and November 2020.

Ketchikan – “Utility Assistance Program; Moorage Assistance Program; Daycare Program; Residential Housing Assistance; Nonprofit Assistance Program; Economic Support – COVID-19, Telework.”

Ketchikan Gateway Borough – “Current expenditures include temp labor for Administration, Rental and Mortgage Assistance, Public Health & Safety Wages, PPE reimbursements, and Small Business Support—based on a percentage of the loss of a business’s quarter 2, 2019 revenues as compared to their quarter 2, 2020 revenues and Other Economic Support paid to the City of Saxman for them to administer for Housing and Food programs.  Future expenditures may include economic support to businesses based on measurable lost income, economic support to individuals including utilities and rent and mortgage assistance, Day Care assistance to families with young children, additional payment to the City of Saxman for local programs, and medical expenditures for COVID-19 testing and equipment.”

Saxman – “Month of August administrative expenses associated with the two City of Saxman CARES Act grant programs. The first program is the Isolated Persons Emergency Food Voucher Grant Program. This grant is meant to assist those in a high-risk category who are isolating at home and unable to go to a grocery store for food and basic cleaning supplies. The second program is the COVID-19 Utility/Rent Assistance Grant Program. To be eligible, an applicant must have experienced an income loss or hardship associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Naukati – $1,200 spent on housing support in October 2020, $19,775 spent on housing support in November 2020, and $8,000 spent on housing support in December 2020.

Sitka – “The City and Borough of Sitka intends to disburse funds across 5 categories for those experiencing COVID-19 related economic hardship: 1. Utility/moorage economic hardship relief; 2. business and nonprofit economic relief grants; 3. new programs that will address COVID-19 related challenges related to childcare, food security, behavioral/mental health, housing and transitional employment; 4. ensure local government can continue to operate throughout the pandemic, including investment in IT as well as changes to City Hall to ensure the safety of staff and citizens. May include a portion of public health staff salaries; 5. Funding to local schools to ensure adequate devices and counseling. We expect to begin expending funds in July of 2020.”

Wrangell – “Communications, Alternate Isolation Site, Economic Support, COVID Tourism rebranding, Telework Fees.”

Akhiok – “We bought 4 RV/travel trailers for quarantining. I dug up the sewer and hooked them up and have water and sewer hooked up. We have $7,118.90 unspent out of $101,445.85. I have payroll to do but not much.”

Old Harbor – “The City has implemented an Utility Assistance Program. This will provide applicants who have been both financially impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency and have an active water and sewer account with a one time assistance credit of $500.00 to their water and sewer account.”

Fort Yukon – “shifted from staffing to more economic and housing support expenses. We have implemented a Covid assistance for housing related expenses within our community.”

Nunam Iqua – “​​Materials and labor in support of construction of dome houses purchased by the Tribe to isolate individuals subject to the quarantine mandate. Heating fuel assistance to residential housing.”

Shaktoolik – “Community Center Garage, Simple Housing Renovations and Community Support, Amended funds in the amount of $54,460.42 into a repair and replace fund for Community Housing Support.”

Stebbins – “renovations, housing support, food programs, economic support and telework capabilities.”

Kachemak – “grants to local nonprofits (financially harmed by Coronavirus) serving basic needs (including housing, food, utility payments, internet, health care, and education) of Kachemak City residents.” “… gave $1000 grants to 25 eligible households.” Spent all but $200.

Palmer – “utility-housing assistance to Palmer residents”

Wasilla – “Provide housing relief to homeowners and renters adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Anchorage – Rental and Mortgage Assistance to address unmet need for housing support during these trying times

Akutan – Housing support, updating HVAC system in offices to filter virus, $15,978.57 spent for Public Health Expenses (including personal protective equipment) and a block of hotel rooms for November and December 2020 to isolate employees, residents, contractors and others in the community of Akutan in case of an outbreak of COVID-19 virus.