Last week, the Albuquerque City Council struck down a proposed change to the ordinance regulating Safe Outdoor Spaces, which are designated managed areas with access to basic amenities for people experiencing homelessness. The changes were aimed at making it easier to set up new spaces, because advocates say the current laws are too burdensome, and restrict private property owners from setting up more.
Gil Kerley owns Quirky Used Books & More near Nob Hill and said the city is actively hindering people from helping alleviate homelessness issues.
Kerley is currently suing the city after receiving a $1,500 fine for allowing unhoused people to sleep in tents in the parking lot on his property.
The Institute for Justice is representing Kerley in his lawsuit against the city. Senior Attorney Diana Simpson said Kerley started letting people come into the store to cool down during the summer or warm up during the winter, to get water if they needed it, or just rest if they had to, regardless of whether they were paying customers or not.
“His goal is to not just be a bookstore, but to be kind of a community institution and to help everybody that comes by,” she said “He just wants to create this comfortable place for people.”
He started to notice that some of the people coming in had nowhere else to go, Simpson said, which is when Kerley began allowing people to pitch tents on his property. Simpson said he would have applied for a permit to set up an official Safe Outdoor Space, but found the requirements out of reach. For example, he would need to pay for security to be present 24/7, which — at minimum wage — would cost more than $100,000 per year.
“And that doesn’t even cover the other requirements that the outdoor spaces program has,”she said, “such as plumbing water stations.”
Simpson said Kerley would be required to spend tens of thousands of dollars to install dedicated shower stations, and running water, as well as office space for social support personnel, and more.
“But that doesn't make sense for someone like Gil, who is someone who's just doing what he can with what he has,” she said, “and can help a handful of people, as opposed to a lot of people.”
She said Kerley and his legal team were closely following the recent introduction of potential changes to the city’s ordinance regulating safe outdoor spaces, which would have dropped the requirement for full plumbing, 24/7 security and allowed for mobile crisis management rather than onsite services at all times.
Those changes, however, were struck down by the City Council's Land Use, Planning and Zoning Committee on Wednesday night. Councilors Nichole Rogers and Tammy Fiebelkorn supported the changes to the ordinance, but Councilors Renée Grout, Dan Champine and Brook Bassan voted against them.
Rogers said since the Safe Outdoor Space ordinance was first put in place only 11 applications have been submitted — five were denied, four were withdrawn, one was approved and one more is currently under review.
“I think it's clear that in three years to only have 11 applicants, this isn't working,” she said. “It's not working, and we need to do something to make it better.”
Opponents, like Councilor Grout, said loosening requirements puts residents of both the spaces themselves and the surrounding neighborhoods in danger. She says if security is only available during part of the day, then the spaces would be left on their own at other times.
“A lot of things happen at night, and there are a lot of churches that are in the middle of neighborhoods, and that's scary to not have security available 24/7,” she said.
Grout also said her business is near Quirky Used Books, and that she has noticed a large presence of people experiencing homelessness near the bookstore.
“I see the area around it and the transients around it. And I am concerned that when there's not security 24/7 that there's going to be more of that in neighborhoods. And that's a scary thing,” she said.
Kerley gave testimony to councilors reiterating the logistic and monetary obstacles in the current ordinance, and pointing out what he sees as a clear contradiction:
“If operators of camping areas intended for middle class or wealthy campers, what we call campgrounds, are not required to be licensed,” he said. “The city should not impose a licensing requirement on operators of other camping areas, safe outdoor spaces, solely because they serve a different economic class of people.”
Pastor Jesse Harden at New Creation Church, where the city's only safe outdoor space is located, testified that the neighborhood around his space has benefited since opening.
“We have created a really beautiful space that is building some beautiful community that's pleasant to live in and to live next to,” he said.
Harden also said it’s a boon for the residents, establishing strong friendships, and instilling hope and relief.
“The first day we were open,” he said, “I arrived early in our safe outdoor space to one of our first tenants emerging from her tent, and said, ‘How did you sleep?’ and she breathed really deep and smiled and had tears in her eyes, and she says, ‘I haven't slept through the night for four years. Thank you for creating the space.’”
After the vote, Harden criticized the language used by some of the councilors who opposed the changes, calling it “dehumanizing and disrespectful.”
“We have to start seeing people as neighbors and not as problems,” he said. “We need to start looking at the poor and standing in awe at how much they carry rather than in judgment at how they carry it.”
As for Gil Kerley at Quirky Used Books, Simpson said if the changes had passed, Kerley would have started the process of applying for a safe outdoor space permit, but now will instead continue with the lawsuit against the city. Simpson said the lawsuit has both a state and federal constitutional basis in regards to his rights to decide what is done on his own property.
Quirky Used Books & More has underwritten with KUNM in the past, but we cover them the same way we would anyone else. Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
