In a continuing effort to reduce homelessness in Albuquerque, Mayor Tim Keller has proposed spending a combined $7 million in both recurring and one-time funding for housing programs.
The mayor’s proposal is part of a significantly larger $1.4 billion new city budget that is mostly concerned with law enforcement and public safety priorities, including $615,000 for improvements to the city’s animal welfare facilities.
Homelessness and a lack of affordable housing options have been an ongoing preoccupation for the Keller administration. Last year the city purchased for $15 million the former Gibson Medical Center, turning it into the Gateway Center, a facility designed to provide both emergency shelter as well as access to long-term services.
That facility is slated to open at the end of this year.
Despite such efforts, the number of people living on the streets of the city, according to a report issued in late 2021 by the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, has increased from nearly 200 in the last five years to more than 400.
The mayor’s proposal additionally includes $4.7 million for the continued operation of the Gateway Center, as well as $750,000 for a Safe Outdoor Spaces sanctioned encampments program.
Another $1.3 million will go for a medical respite facility at the Gibson Health Hub, on the same campus at 5400 Gibson Boulevard SE populated by the Gateway Center.
In unveiling his budget, Keller, in part, said his goal was to build on the “historic investments that got us through tough times brought on by the pandemic.”
By Garry Boulard
