I left recently, after loving AK for more than a decade.  3 main reasons: Economic uneasiness, not feeling safe, and the depressing sight of people hanging out everywhere and the trash that results.  The trash is just too much.  Once I called a few agencies about those problems near my home.  I expressed compassion at the plight of the homeless, as well as dismay at the trash and antics of those same people.  Both agencies said that many homeless people prefer that lifestyle, that going to work every day and living under the same roof every night is not something they want.  I don't know if it's true, and I don't know what the solutions is, but I just couldn't take the growing impression of Anchorage as a big slum.