Vehicles, including cars, trucks, vans, box trucks, campers, buses, boats and an old firetruck are parked in a section of the Third Avenue and Ingra Street homeless camp on Sept. 26.
Mechanic Mike Poirier points to an engine that he is rebuilding at a homeless camp at Third Avenue and Ingra Street. Poirier says he has four vehicles that he is working on, that were purchased at auction and he and a partner are hoping to sell. Apollo Naff discusses his plans to house people in box trucks he owns, send them to addiction treatment in Mexico, and bring them back to Alaska to work at the homeless camp at Third Avenue and Ingra Street
Over the past month, more vehicles have arrived at the site, said Rob Cupples, who owns rental property across the street. The city doesn’t seem to know what to do, he said. Naff says that about 25 people are now living in his vehicles. Some of them work for him as mechanics, he said. “I think if you have private land and he wanted to allow for people to come sleeping buses on his land, that would be something that he’s free to do, but unfortunately, it’s on municipal property,” she said.Sierra Daunning sits in one of Apollo Naff's box trucks, her home for the moment, at a homeless camp at Third Avenue and Ingra Street on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. It’s better than a tent, she said, showing a heavy chain – she can lock herself in at night. “I feel safer,” she said.