Episode 6: Solutions/Conclusion

Molly McClskey: 644. That’s how many housing units were in Skagway, Alaska, in 2020. That’s according to a reportby the Skagway Development Corporation in 2023. Remember two-thirds of them are owner-occupied. One-third are occupied by renters. But the report didn’t break down whether the renters were seasonal or year-round. Or how many people are in a single unit. And it didn’t account for informal, and at times, illegal, dwellings.

 

Most importantly, it didn’t define what housing is. And in Skagway, housing takes a lot of forms. In years past, seasonal housing has run the gamut. Workers would spend the season in tents, in RVs, crammed into bunkbeds in shared spaces. One employer hung curtains in his garage and housed his seasonals there. There are places in town that everyone knows about, where the conditions aren’t the best. And that can lead to problems, for everyone involved. But nearly everyone in town is actively seeking solutions, and trying to find ways that seasonals and locals alike, have safe, stable, places to buy or rent.

 

Some people think town officials should do more. Others aren’t waiting and are taking steps on their own. Janilyn Heger is planning to convert one of her AirBnbs into a year-round rental.

 

Janilyn Heger: We’ll find our perfect renter, because the need is so great. I feel more attached to the idea of doing what’s best for our community in terms of our year round residents than people who want to come and visit.

 

Molly McCluskey: She’s also looking to other towns to see what solutions they’re implementing, and speaking with city officials about whether they could work in Skagway.

 

Janilyn Heger: If you look at Juneau and you can find them in Whitehorse, you could find them in, well, in our case, we were in Oregon, Washington, Salt Lake City, Utah this winter. But trailer parks, which some people have a preconceived notion that they’re trashy. They don’t have to be. I went through a few of them that were absolutely neat as a pin, more like an HOA, where there were guidelines of what you can and cannot do. Everybody had the same amount of land, had a storage, had parking.

 

Molly McCluskey: Wendy Anderson is also eying opportunities for mixed-use and high-density housing throughout town. She’s particularly worried about the needs of seniors.

 

Wendy Anderson: I would love to see the area over at the old clinic space be utilized for some senior housing. A common room for community center stuff but definitely some apartments there. I know there’s concerns of how do we keep it for Skagway people but there’s ways to do that. As far as the Garden City property, I would love to see condos. I feel like that’s what we need at this point because you don’t need as much capital investment to get into that.

 

Molly McCluskey: Clinic Director Albert Wall is hoping to clinic will be able to build housing for its year-round and visiting medical staff.

 

Albert Wall: The clinic has some options and through some grant opportunities, may be able to build a couple places for themselves and then return the leases that they currently have, eventually, a couple years down the road, back to the economy and free up those houses for people who live here.

 

Molly McCluskey: Mayor Bass says the town is actively working on allowing more creative housing solutions in Skagway but it’s a process. He says he’d like to see neglected lots sold and renovated but his hands are tied.

 

Sam Bass: we can’t tell private owners what to do with their lots, what to do with their properties. If they don’t want to sell, they don’t sell. If they don’t want to rehab their derelict property, they obviously don’t have to.  Now, what we can do and what we’ve seen in other communities and I think in what may be an option for us is that we’re starting to look, at can we provide grants? Can we help people develop those derelict or rehab those derelict properties?  Can we help people establish that auxiliary housing? And I think that’s one of the tools that we’re hoping to develop to help us mitigate some of these concerns.

 

Molly McCluskey: Skagway has a new housing ad hoc committee in place, and a new plan for the Garden City RV park. Bass is hoping the city will be able to enter into a private-public partnership to build on some of the city’s property. He also encourages residents who might be nervous about renting out a room in their own or starting their own rental business, to contact the Skagway Development Corporation for some guidelines and resources.

 

Sam Bass: The Skagway Development Corporation has great tools to provide that knowledge to people who may be considering those things, and we encourage people to reach out to the SDC and see if becoming a landlord may be advantageous for you. Those tools are out there, because if you don’t have that knowledge, you don’t understand what the taxes will be, you not sure about the insurance or the different things that come with being a landlord, even paying the sales tax for your rental, you need to make sure you do that. You need a business license. All those little questions that need to be answered, SDC is a great avenue to get that information.

 

Molly McCluskey: But those plans take time. And residents say that a solution to Skagway’s housing challenges has to come from all angles. Fix delipidated houses. Build on abandoned lots. Ensure all housing is up to code. Update zoning to allow for a wide array of housing options. Have enough places for people to escape unhealthy or abusive homes. For Janily Heger, and other Skagwegians like her, the need is more pressing than typical burcracy can meet.

 

Janily Heger The issue is, how do people who want to live here and make this their home live here and have a home? We need immediate housing. Like right now, we need housing.

 

Molly McCluskey: Thank you so much for tuning into the Skagway Shuffle. Housing in Skagway is a complex issue and we’ve barely scratched the surface of the housing challenges and solutions. Stay tuned for future reporting that dives a bit deeper. My reporting was made possible by a seed grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. Additional thanks to Mike Hempen, Jennifer Strong, Kyle Clayton, Mark Larsen, and Marley Horner for their support.