Safe Harbor Inn

How Safe Harbor Inn Works

Each Safe Harbor Inn facility is a hotel—not a social service agency, not a “program,” not rental housing, not a care facility, not an institution. Our guests are guests—not “clients,” not

“residents,” not “tenants,” not “cases.” Our watchwords are privacy, dignity, respect, warmth, and friendship. Case management services are provided to all guests by their referring agencies for the entire length of their stay at Safe Harbor.

Safe Harbor's goal is for guests to get back on their feet and into permanent employment and permanent housing, so that they become self-sufficient and never have to be homeless again.

All Safe Harbor hotel units are attractively and fully furnished, with two double beds or a king-size bed, full private bathrooms, cable TV (provided free by GCI), small refrigerators, and microwaves. Each Safe Harbor has a large community room for socializing, playroom for children, meeting space, and a 24-hour coin-op laundromat.

Major bus lines are within a block of both Safe Harbor hotels. At least two staff are on site at all times to assist guests with whatever they need and to provide security and companionship. The hotel offices and lobbies are open 24/7 with free coffee and snacks.

Guests are referred by more than 40 partner agencies in Anchorage. Referred guests must be homeless and have very low incomes (as defined by HUD), must be receiving case management services from their referring agency to help them get back on their feet, and must be unable to afford another place to stay.

Guests can stay at Safe Harbor Inn for as long as their referring agencies continue to provide services to them, as long as they continue to abide by the house rules, and as long as their lodging fees ($400 for each 30-day period, $450 for supersize rooms) are paid on time. There is no maximum length of stay.

When guests are ready to move to permanent housing, Safe Harbor staff help them find apartments, provide landlord references when warranted, and assist with up to $300 in security deposits to the guests' new landlords. On moving day, guests pick out the furniture and household supplies they want for their new homes —all of it donated by families, groups, and local businesses in the community. Safe Harbor staff then move the family and all their things to their new homes, at no charge.

To date, more than 70% of Safe Harbor guests have moved successfully to permanent housing. Guest level of satisfaction with Safe Harbor services, as measured on exit questionnaires, is over 98%. The hotels' waiting lists remain long (more than 200 people) and both hotels remain at full occupancy all the time.

back to home