SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The mayor of Anchorage, Alaska, listed San Diego as one of the potential places homeless people there might choose to go to if a new program comes to fruition.
Dave Bronson, the city's mayor, said in a press conference he is considering buying homeless people a one-way ticket to anywhere else in the United States ahead of the upcoming winter.
“Someone says I wanna go to Los Angeles or San Diego or Seattle or Kansas. It’s not our business. My job is to make sure they don’t die on Anchorage streets," said Bronson.
The mayor cited a record number of eight deaths last year during Alaska's cold season as the motive, saying he expects that number to double this year.
"They're going to have a choice to stay warm this year and that's the choice we are giving them," said Bronson.
Bronson said a source of funding for the program has not been identified yet.
Michael McConnell, a homeless advocate in San Diego, says typically people are not interested in leaving where they live, even if they do not have a home.
“Homeless people have doctors. They have jobs. They have family and friends, and so people don’t normally just uproot and leave that," said McConnell.
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