The newest edition to Albuquerque’s Gateway system of care is getting ready to accept residents. The new pallet home community, dubbed Gateway Recovery, is meant to provide temporary housing for people who successfully complete medical detox, but don’t have anywhere to live while taking the next steps in addiction recovery.
The housing units, built by the company Pallet Shelter homes, are about the size of a shed, equipped with heating, air conditioning, storage and a twin-sized bed.
The community can house up to 50 people in 46 Pallet homes (four are double-sized for couples). It includes laundry facilities, showers and bathrooms, a large kitchen and dining room, community areas with space to hold group therapy sessions, offices for wrap-around support services, and even a dog park and community garden.
Director of the Department of Health,Housing and Homelessness, Gilbert Ramirez, said the complex was designed to support healthy psychological development and a sense of belonging.
“Community gardens are important. You know, it's part of the therapeutic healing process. It's also important to be able to say, ‘This is my home,’” he said.
Ramirez said the dog park was an important addition to help cast a wider net when finding potential clients.
“If we don't have a low barrier and allow space for your animals and your companions, who are typically like family, you might not engage there,” he said, “and we don't want to separate individuals from that.”
Residents will be referred from detox facilities and behavioral health providers, and can stay for up to 24 months, with access to case management and counseling.
Mayor Tim Keller said the community is just one step in the Gateway system that eventually leads to independent housing.
“There has never quite been a home like this for people who are transitioning from being unhoused, from the streets into, eventually things like housing,” he said. “The question is, how do you connect those dots? And that's what this community is all about.”
Keller said the community was made possible through collaboration with Bernalillo County and the state, and was completed in only nine months at a cost of $5 million dollars, with each unit costing $18,000. Keller says an equivalent-sized apartment complex would have cost around $20 million.
“This is anywhere between 75 to 80% cheaper than those options,” he said, “and it’s also 80% faster.”
The money comes from a variety of sources, including opioid settlement funds, allocations from the legislature, and $1.7 million contributed by the county to go towards operating costs.
Santa Fe used Pallet buildings to open the city’s first safe outdoor space last year at Christ Lutheran Church. Pallet is a public benefit corporation based in Everett, WA, that has built over 125 such communities around the country.
Endeavors, a national non-profit organization, will provide services at the Albuquerque site, and said they will begin taking referrals this week.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
