You ask an excellent question . No they are not . There are only hurting Anchorage and the surrounding area by sending the wrong message to those in need.   Beans and Francis have sent the message across Alaska to send us your homeless and troublemakers and we will feed them and give them a place to sleep.  They are enabling the situation to grow in Anchorage.  that is why year after year after year nothing improves.  By shutting these two places down the street homeless crowd would go someplace else or get their acts together . Imagine those places were gone tomorrow---there would be no one hanging out at that location.  As long as they can party all day and get food and a place to stay--what incentive do they have to improve their lives ?  That's why the death toll continues to rise---we keep doing the same thing expecting a different result. IF what they were doing was working or helping the situation would improve , but it's not.  Shut these places down and things will improve .