Isn't Portland (where I was born) bigger than the entire population of Alaska? For some reason, Oregon and Washington also score badly on homeless problems along with Alaska, probably given...our great weather?
Search for "blue ticket", it might not be practiced anymore, I'm not sure; but I believe there was still something like that going on in the 80s at least, and it was definitely a thing while my mom was growing up.
I remember some of the homeless in Seattle were from Alaska, how they got there...I'm sure if you ask a charity you can get a bus/plane ticket in winter easily enough, even if the gov doesn't do it for you.
Seattle has relatively affordable airfare to Anchorage.
Some part of it must be cultural. The entire west coast seems to score badly. I can't find a lot on "blue tickets" except to suggest that it hasn't been done since the 80s.
To go from ANC to SEA by bus you'd be taking 3 different bus lines, for a total price of ~$425 and probably a week of travel time.
Vancouver BC also has a large homeless population, so I can see it being a part of west coast culture (and of course, California...). There is something to be said about the boom/bust natures of the logging (skid row!) and fishing industries that probably feed into the problem.
Buses out of Alaska aren't cheap, its much cheaper to fly these days. You can get a ticket to Seattle for < $300. "blue tickets" seem to be ingrained in Alaskan culture, its a word that is understood very well up there; people like Palin use it to trash talk others they want to go. You are right the overt practice is probably not acceptable today, but the philosophy still holds.
Search for "blue ticket", it might not be practiced anymore, I'm not sure; but I believe there was still something like that going on in the 80s at least, and it was definitely a thing while my mom was growing up.
I remember some of the homeless in Seattle were from Alaska, how they got there...I'm sure if you ask a charity you can get a bus/plane ticket in winter easily enough, even if the gov doesn't do it for you.
Seattle has relatively affordable airfare to Anchorage.