How to be Homeless in Alaska

I wrote this post last summer on my blog (anarchyintheak.com) It may be of some slight use.


The thing is that I’ve sort of been homeless a couple of times (short-term) by accident before. It was never really something I prepared for and, you know, stocked up and planned on to make it “work” — it just happened.

The first time was the summer I moved up here at nineteen without a penny to my name. I was working for Princess and didn’t handle or take care of myself well–distraught teenage sorts of things–and ending up getting fired. The worse part of that was that they provided the only housing that was really an option. I ended up utilizing the following tips myself until some aquaintances in Healy found out and took me in, in a manner of speaking.

The second time was in New York when I had a falling out with the only friend I had in the city and ended up sleeping in Central Park for a while. I couldn’t afford the deposit to get a room of my own, and had a lot of trouble building up enough money for a deposit and first month’s rent. That was a long and stressful battle, ultimately ending in a tearful appeal to my parents to fly me home. (Humiliating and bad for my familial relationships, but I’m thankful I had the option.)

Consequently, I wonder how many other people happening to find themselves homeless and aren’t just rebellious punks (not that I can’t identify with that thought process, too,) actually have the luxury of getting their life together in an ideal kind of way before becoming homeless.

This list seems to require future planning with an anticipation of being homeless, whether intentional or not. Most of the homeless people I know struggled down to their last dime before opting for this as a last result, and could never really recover.

I am aware of some vague movement of homelessness as a proactive lifestyle choice, (I seem to recall some homeless blogger type advocates or something, but I’m too lazy to look them up,) but this seems to make light of a very real and very difficult situation so many people find themselves in that don’t want to be there. It seems almost insulting to call it homelessness, and would think it’s more accurately referred to as vagabonding.

All that being said, if you do want to be “homeless” just to skip out on reality for a while, or find yourself suddenly fired and displaced from a summer job a million miles from home, Alaska in the summer is not a bad place for it at all.

Here’s a list to consider if you find yourself in just such a situation.

* Pack up a backpack with some basic camping supplies. You can usually beg or buy these off people around or find it on Craigslist really cheap.
* What could be the best part about being without housing in Alaska in the summer is that the possibilities for camping are endless. There are countless places within easy access of the road system that are State or Federally owned in one capacity or another, and therefore more or less fair game for camping. It’s not hard to find a quiet place to set up for a while, but be respectful–practice Leave No Trace camping ethics and be extremely wary of burn regulations. (Even though this year is rather wet and cold for forest fires.)
* Buy or borrow a cheap fishing set-up and, if you don’t want to get slapped with a huge fine, a fishing license. Between fish for protein and the massive amount of natural bounty, you shouldn’t need to buy much food, but don’t put yourself in an impossible or extremely remote situation, a la Christopher McCandless. Get an edible plants of Alaska book and know it inside and out. I’d suggest also having some olive oil and salt to cook with. Maybe some rice or ramen for some inexpensive carbs.
* You can bike if you want to, but hitch hiking is really easy and relatively safe up here, so I’d suggest sticking with that.
* If you want to continue a homeless lifestyle in the winter, you better find a good cabin to squat in and treat it well in case the owner shows up, but I still wouldn’t put any bets on it going well. Unless you were an extraordinarily competent outdoors survivalist familiar with an unpredictable subarctic climate, you really require way too much gear, fuel, ammo, et cetera to get by in the winter without some funds saved up, not to mention the good luck of finding a secure cabin that nobody’s going to notice you’re squatting in. The alternative might be one of those very expensive winter tents, but that’s a whole other investment, once again out of reach for your average unemployed homeless type.

My best advice would to be start getting it together now for a warm place to stay this winter, or line up a ride to the lower 48.

Not really looking to alsaka anymore, but a few of your tips are good so thanks.