Many of the cars, trucks, and motor homes parked in the area serve as the residents’ only shelter.at Third Avenue and Ingra Steet as part of the city’s abatement process. Anchorage Police Chief Michael Kerle said that no vehicles would be impounded if someone was living inside. Still, it poses the question if vehicles not in use will soon be impounded from the Cuddy Park encampment.
“If we live here, why can’t we come and go as we please? ... I mean, it’s like they’re trying to lock us in basically and it’s kind of scary,” Mitchell said. “A lot of us are still trying to get our lives together and get jobs and sometimes we be working late at night,” Mitchell said. “It’s like they’re trying to trap the homeless in like we’re animals. It didn’t work downtown and there’s been a lot of rumors about what happened downtown and everything like that, but over here it’s not like that, there’s families, there’s kids,” Buckles said. “Honestly, inside of trying to hide the situation, they should be trying to help it.”