Mcdowall, Mentally ill must receive shelter and sustenance. With regard to the others, I interpret your reply to mean that you prefer the societal cost of the status quo instead of the cost of changing things with laws and enforcement.  San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego apparently made the same choice. You ask "What do you think will happen in Anchorage - - -."  My answer is what do you think has happened to Anchorage?  We have panhandlers on corners where there were none ten years ago. We have public space occupied by drunks and littered with human waste.  We have people passed out drunk daily in all parts of town. It is getting worse and our municipal government doesn't have the gumption to seriously solve the problem.