New Mexico AG charges four people with abuse at care facilities — By Daniel Montaño, KUNM News
The New Mexico Department of Justice has filed charges of elder and resident abuse against four different people working at assisted living facilities and with the developmentally disabled.
Director of the Medicaid Fraud and Elder Abuse Division Joseph Martinez said the incidents led to multiple charges for various types of abuse and that each charge carries a sentence of up to six months.
“The investigations uncovered that some of New Mexicans, most vulnerable population, was being abused and abused from a variety of different ways,” he said. “Some were being verbally abused, some were being physically abused, and another one was simply being hit.”
The facilities named in the criminal complaints are Pacifica Senior Living Facility and Community Options Inc in Santa Fe, and Morningstar of Rio Rancho Assisted Living Facility.
Videos of two of the incidents can be viewed online, in which two of the defendants, Salomon Sanchez and Lee Carrizales, can be heard and seen verbally and physically abusing residents, calling them names, refusing access to the bathroom, and physically shoving one.
“All of these allegations are extremely serious and worrisome because none of them could have been reported by the victims themselves,” he said. “All of the victims had diminished capacity.”
Martinez said all of the cases were reported, either as referrals from other agencies or directly by the public, in two of the cases, direct co-workers of the defendants.
Although the Governor announced a crackdown on long-term care facilities this summer, Martinez said these investigations were separate from that effort.
Support for this coverage comes from the WK Kellog Foundation.
Legacy Church, Steelbridge Ministries named in lawsuit alleging sexual abuse - By Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ
A lawsuit filed this week with the Second Judicial District Court alleges that former Steelbridge Ministries executive director Travis Clark coerced a female client into “regular sexual contact” between December 2020 and April 2024.
Steelbridge operates a residential treatment facility near Downtown Albuquerque for those with substance use disorders who have also often experienced homelessness. Legacy Church Inc., the parent entity of Steelbridge, and its lead pastor Steve Smothermon, are also named in the lawsuit.
The 11-page lawsuit was filed on behalf of plaintiff, “Jane Doe 1,” by Albuquerque law firm Huffman Wallace & Monagle.
The lawsuit alleges that Jane Doe 1 was sexually abused while in a court-ordered treatment program at Steelbridge and that Clark coerced her into regular sexual contact under the guise of “pastoral counseling” and “substance abuse counseling” — offering her an expedited release from custody if she succumbed to his sexual demands.
Attorney Shayne C. Huffman said in a Tuesday news release that Clark had “complete control” over the plaintiff’s freedom and “the power to send her back to jail if she did not do whatever he told her to do.”
The lawsuit alleges that Clark was allowed to quietly resign his position at Steelbridge when the allegations were brought to the attention of the organization’s board of directors in the summer of 2021.
However, following his resignation, the lawsuit alleges that Clark was hired into a similar
position at Crossroads for Women where similar sexual abuses occurred. Clark is still thought to be working at Crossroads, an Albuquerque nonprofit that provides housing and therapeutic services to women exiting incarceration who are also at risk of experiencing homelessness.
“Our understanding is that Mr. Clark continued his pattern of sexually abusive
behavior after transitioning from Steelbridge to Crossroads,” Attorney Levi Monagle said in the news release. “Whether this is the result of Steelbridge’s failure to warn, or Crossroads’ failure to inquire, the result is inexcusable and highly alarming.”
Huffman said his client also alleges that Clark has been sending her messages since his resignation from Steelbridge suggesting “she stay quiet.”
Attempts by City Desk ABQ to reach representatives at Steelbridge, Legacy and Crossroads weren’t immediately successful. In a statement to KOAT-TV on Tuesday, attorneys for Legacy and Steelbridge said: “Both the Lawsuit and the Press Release are riddled with spurious allegations that constitute false statements of fact made to third parties that wrongfully damage the reputation of the Ministries.”
The lawsuit further notes that Clark had been previously charged, and later acquitted, of sexually assaulting a minor while coaching high school basketball at Liberty High School in Colorado Springs in 2012.
The plaintiff’s attorneys said the 2012 charge “was discoverable with a simple Google search, and should have disqualified Mr. Clark from holding a position of authority over the extremely vulnerable women at Steelbridge.”
An entry on Clark’s LinkedIn profile indicates that he assumed the executive director position at Steelbridge in 2019, five years after being acquitted of the sexual assault charges in Colorado. Clark was also previously the chief operations officer at HopeWorks, another Albuquerque nonprofit homeless services provider.
LEGACY RELATIONSHIP
The lawsuit points to connections between Steelbridge and Legacy — alleging that Legacy, through Smothermon, “exerted substantial control over all major aspects of Steelbridge’s operation since at least 2019.”
“Mr. Smothermon is the leader of Legacy Church, as well as the chair of Steelbridge’s board of directors, and we would be stunned if he was not aware of the allegations of Mr. Clark’s sexual misconduct back in 2021,” Huffman said in the news release.
Huffman said Steelbridge’s relationship to Legacy is stated in its annual report. Job postings for open Steelbridge positions are also published on Legacy’s website.
“Legacy runs everything,” Huffman told City Desk ABQ on Wednesday. “And apparently all the Stillbridge folks are on the Legacy payroll.”
Huffman said his client was referred to the Steelbridge program as a condition of her probation by her aunt, who is a member at Legacy.
“[Jane Doe 1] told us that there are other people that are [at Steelbridge] as a condition of their probation,” Huffman said.
Huffman likened the power dynamic between Clark and his client to other cases that involve corrections personnel who coerce inmates into having sex.
Huffman Wallace & Monagle also represent clients in Catholic Church sexual abuse allegations.
“We’ve sued, and we’re currently suing, the Catholic Church, the Archdiocese of El Paso — we have 200 claimants in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe bankruptcy [case],” Huffman said.
NEXT STEPS
Huffman said the defendants in the Clark lawsuit now have 30 days to provide initial responses to the allegations through a court filing.
“To admit or deny each allegation we’ve made,” he said. “Then we would start the discovery process, gather evidence and exchange documents, take testimony — that sort of thing.”
Huffman said the process can take between one to three years.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they just throw everything they can at us and countersue for defamation,” Huffman said. “We’ll see what comes down the pipeline.”
Huffman said he talks to Jane Doe 1 daily.
“She’s in recovery and seems to be doing really well,” he said. “I’ve talked with her a lot now at this point and I find her to be very credible.”
Read the full lawsuit here.
New Mexico governor: Expect ‘laundry list’ of crime proposals in one bill in legislative session - By Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s series of tough-on-crime bills failed in a special legislative session earlier this year, so in 2025 she and the Legislature are trying a different approach: Packing all the reforms into one big bill.
At a lecture hall at the Gallup campus of the University of New Mexico on Tuesday, the governor gave a glimpse of what the public can expect when it comes to her renewed push to tackle crime and justice across the state: A robust debate over many different criminal justice reforms piled into a single bill, plus more money to address drug addiction and mental illness.
“Both chambers have committed to an omnibus. What does that mean? We’ve got a laundry list of bills in one bill at the front end of the session,” she said. “There will also be a hefty investment in behavioral health, and we need it.”
Throughout the year, the governor has held hours-long town hall meetings in communities big and small, rallying the public to ask their legislators to pass a slate of public safety bills. At the nearly five-hour meeting in Gallup, she heard from members of the public who described crime in their communities, along with proposed solutions from educators, social workers, teens and advocates.
The governor said she intends to push for the same or similar proposals in January that crashed at a brief special session this summer.
The governor’s agenda would have made it easier for police and judges to involuntarily commit people with psychiatric diagnoses or for courts to hold them in jail. It would also ban loitering on certain medians across the state and raise penalties for having a gun if someone has a prior felony conviction.
The session ended the same day it opened, however. Because no Democrat agreed to carry the bills, the governor relied on Republicans to sponsor the legislation, which Democratic leaders prevented from coming up from a vote.
Democratic legislative leaders said the governor was trying to rush through legislation regarding the complicated interplay of mental illness, drug use and crime. They said they needed more time to create and deliberate laws that represent real solutions, while the governor said the current crisis demanded immediate action.
The governor, also a Democrat, called the Legislature’s inaction “one of the most disappointing days of my career” and marked a rift with members of her own party.
Sen. George Muñoz, a Gallup Democrat and chair of the Senate Finance Committee, sat in the audience Tuesday and had a brief exchange with the governor. He said the Legislature has repeatedly toughened criminal penalties, but the judiciary is a missing piece of the crime debate happening now between the executive and legislative branches.
“We can toughen any law you want, but if the cops don’t enforce it, and the judges don’t enforce it, and the (district attorneys) don’t prosecute it, then we’re in the same boat we are today,” he said.
Criminal competency will be the hardest reform for the Legislature, Muñoz said.
But the the governor said too many defendants are released back onto the streets after being deemed incompetent for trial, and she pointed to reforms in other states to show that New Mexico can also find a solution.
“It can’t be that hard if 48 states have gotten there. Why is it hard here? I’m just unclear. So I’m going to need you to help me with that about why it’s such a heavy lift,” she told Muñoz.
The 60-day legislative session begins January 21.
Bernalillo County offers property tax savings - By Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ
Bernalillo County officials are looking to help property owners who want to keep their homes and businesses in tip-top shape.
The county assessor’s program, Cost to Cure, is designed to offset expenses related to bringing a property up to its best condition. Property owners are eligible for a one-time reduction to the listed fair market value of their property.According to the program’s website, that could mean paying hundreds of dollars less in property taxes.
“Cost to Cure is a powerful incentive for investment and to revitalize property and our community,” County Assessor Damian Lara said. “There’s no minimum or maximum that can be claimed and it covers any defect and deficiency.”
Eligible costs include materials such as lumber, nails and refinishing supplies, as well as professional services such as plumbing and electrical work.
“We want to revitalize Bernalillo County and have our community looking its best,” Lara said. “Cost to Cure is a great way to help pay for the work.”
Property owners will need to provide receipts for any restoration or improvement projects they have completed. Valuation reductions will be reflected on the county-issued Notice of Value for each property, which will be mailed to property owners in April.
The same improvements cannot be claimed more than once in a year or in successive years.
Assessor’s Office Spokesperson Tom Thorpe said while the program is new, property owners have for years presented cost-to-cure reports to staff, mostly while protesting their assessed valuation.
A full description of the program, examples of potential savings and a printable application are available here.
More information is also available from A.C.E., the Assessor’s online chatbot at bernco.gov/assessor. Those wishing to speak with a customer service representative may call 505-222-3700.
Gov, advocates call for increased funding on water in 2025 session - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
New Mexico’s executive branch and water organizations are urging lawmakers to use the upcoming legislative session to pay hundreds of millions in new funding to adapt for a drier, hotter future, all adopting the message “water can’t wait.”
New Mexico already has less water available than it did even 30 years ago, and the outlook is bleak. Scientists and experts estimate New Mexico’s water supplies will decline by another 25% in the next 50 years.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office is calling for at least $200 million in one-time spending to boost aquifer mapping, water planning and efforts to expand water supplies.
More than one-third of New Mexico’s budget is fueled directly from extracting oil and gas – a massive driver of climate change that disrupts the cycles for replenishing rivers and pushes up water demand. As the state’s rivers shrink from less snow and thirstier soil, farmers and cities turn to underground aquifers to meet demands for parched gardens and crops.
Interstate Stream Commissioner Hannah Risely-White said the moment is urgent, as the state has not always prioritized action, while the impacts of climate change are ratcheting up.
“We are seeing critical impacts of prolonged drought in many parts of the state – forest fires, post-fire flooding impacts,” she told lawmakers last week during a meeting of the Water and Natural Resources committee. “So action now is critical.”
A CLARION CALL FOR 2025
Water nonprofits and interest groups, which have often lobbied to beef up pollution enforcement, staffing and basic water data the state was lacking, are supporting the executive branch’s requests for more investment.
The Ogallala Aquifer – the largest in the country, stretching from South Dakota down to Texas and New Mexico – has declined precipitously in recent years from over-pumping. Levels fell so low in Eastern New Mexico last year that the city of Portales’ wells ran dry.
The challenges for Clovis, Portales and Texico portend the future of living with less water, said Ladona Clayton, the executive director for the Ogallala Land and Water Conservancy.
“If the state does not step up and take aggressive, difficult actions immediately, we are not going to get in front of this,” she said.
All 108,000 miles of river in New Mexico were deemed the nation’s most endangered earlier this year, as the impacts from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling changed overnight which wetlands federal law protects.
Shrinking water supplies heighten the threat of pollution, said Tricia Snyder, the rivers and water director for nonprofit NM Wild.
“It becomes even more important to ensure we avoid these pollution events in the first place, and ensure that we don’t have to spend years dealing with the fallout,” she said.
A $200M INVESTMENT AS WATER DWINDLES
Grisham’s office told lawmakers in an interim committee last week they’re seeking a mostly one-time investment of about $200 million dollars to address this drier future.
Lujan Grisham’s $200 million request would include money to develop programs ranging from asking farmers to fallow fields for compensation to mapping the states aquifers over the next decade to finding and fixing leaks in drinking water systems.
That number could change, said Rebecca Roose, the governor’s water and infrastructure advisor, as the executive’s budget request isn’t final, yet.
The executive isn’t asking for additional money this year for developing a surface water regulatory program, saying that the $7.6 million added to the New Mexico Environment Department budget last year suffices.
Much of the focus on water funding includes the Strategic Water Supply, a proposition to eventually treat – with unproven technology and non-existent standards – hard-to-access deep aquifer water and oil and gas wastewater for proposed end uses such as hydrogen fuel or manufacturing solar or wind components.
It was first introduced last year as a half-billion dollar idea from Lujan Grisham in capital outlay, but died in committee in the last days of the session.
Roose and agency heads of Energy Minerals and Natural Resources and New Mexico Environment Department are championing the idea for 2025, saying it would offer an alternative to using fresher water for economic development.
However, both critics and members of the department have said the science to treat produced water at a large scale doesn’t exist. Lawmakers and others have asked if the plan fails to measure the risks of either deep water mining – such as the sinking of the land around it – or contamination from oil and gas wastewater.
Of the $200 million request for water investment, Roose said $75 million would go towards the Strategic Water Supply.
The new proposal asks for less money from the general fund than a previous version in September, which called for $250 million. A bill outlining the proposal, including a 5-cent fee on every oil and gas wastewater barrel to generate an estimated $68 million for the project, will be brought forward in 2025, Roose said.
WHAT DO STATE AGENCIES WANT?
State agencies supervising New Mexico water, land and oil and gas operations are asking lawmakers for more money to clean up pollution, address consequences of climate change disasters and beef up the state’s infrastructure and data.
The Office of the State Engineer is asking for $114 million in the 2025 session, including an additional $5 million to increase salaries and retain staff.
State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson said the agency found that 80% of its positions needed an adjustment to better match comparable pay or retain people doing the highly technical jobs, according to a study from the State Personnel Office.
“We get our staff and train them, they’re excellent, and then they leave,” Anderson said. “We do a lot of work to get people in the agency to be proficient and it takes years to get people that are qualified to administer water rights.”
Additionally, $6 million would go to water measurement and administration, and another $8 million for interstate water management efforts, including ongoing negotiations in a Rio Grande dispute ongoing in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The New Mexico Environment Department has a flat budget request for the next fiscal year – $33 million from the general fund. The total budget for the department, including federal funds, would be about $190 million to $200 million.
Environment Secretary James Kenney, thanked lawmakers for increasing the budget in the 2024 session by $6 million for hiring and retention. Kenney noted that the agency’s vacancy rate is just over 5%, down significantly from prior years. The agency has 606 employees.
The department is asking for $218 million in eight special, one-time appropriations. The largest special appropriation would be $150 million for cleaning up abandoned oil and gas sites along with uranium mining sites.
Another $24 million would go to PFAS litigation New Mexico is facing with the U.S. Department of Defense over groundwater contamination by the so-called “forever chemicals.” Another $20 million would go to rural infrastructure funds.
Governor announces redevelopment plans for New Mexico State Fair site — KUNM News
Expo New Mexico may be getting a facelift soon.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Albuquerque mayor Tim Keller and other officials announced Tuesday a request for proposals to update and redevelop the 236-acre lot of state-owned land in Albuquerque’s International District.
At a special meeting before the announcement, the State Fair Commission voted unanimously to start accepting proposals beginning Wednesday.
Proposals will be open for 45 days, and will be evaluated in January, with a chance for public input for the plan after the finalist is selected.
In the last legislative session, lawmakers set aside $500,000 in capital outlay funding for the purposes of the redevelopment. Ideas to be considered for the proposals include building a modern arena with capacity for large scale concerts and events, identifying new sites for the fair, and mixed-income housing opportunities.
The governor describes the redevelopment as “a unique opportunity to create badly needed housing for the workforce while spurring massive private investment.”
The city needs an estimated 55,000 new housing units in the next decade to keep pace with growth.
New Mexico representatives call on House to move forward on 6 tribal water rights settlements - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
New Mexico’s three congressional representatives urged leaders of both parties in the U.S. House of Representatives to act before the end of the year on six tribal water rights settlements that have stretched on in some cases for decades.
The settlements propose $3.7 billion in federal money to develop drinking water systems, restore habitats and traditional farming practices and establish collaborative management of the water, as tribes give up valuable older water rights across four New Mexico river basins.
“The settlements provide water infrastructure projects for Tribal communities in exchange for their agreement to forgo aspects of their priority water claims, which benefits non-Tribal communities dependent on scarce water resources during times of shortage,” Democratic Reps. Melanie Stansbury, Gabe Vasquez and Teresa Leger Fernández said in a letter dated Tuesday.
The deals, which have required years and sometimes decades of costly negotiations, would settle tribal rights for the rios San José, Jemez, Chama and the Zuni River. Additional bills would correct technical errors in previous settlements and add time and money to the Navajo-Gallup water project.
As part of the settlements, New Mexico agreed to pay between $190 million to $234 million in state funding for some of the local projects for neighboring acequias, water infrastructure for counties and cities.
But some advocates are worried New Mexico lawmakers aren’t preparing enough to pay in full in the upcoming session.
In 2024, the New Mexico Legislature allocated $20 million for the settlements, and the office of the state engineer is requesting another $40.5 million in the 2025 session.
If granted, the state would still be tens of millions of dollars short of the full amount, said Nina Carranco, with the nonprofit Water Foundation.
Tribes, Pueblos and Native American nations have some of the oldest priority rights in water administration, Carranco said, and understanding how much water is allocated allows for better decision-making.
“Tribal water settlements are a key component to addressing the water crisis in New Mexico,” she said. “These settlements not only honor the seniority of tribal water rights, but also provide certainty for other water users in the system.”
She said it was a possibility that one or more of the settlements could be ratified during the lame-duck period before January swearing in of a new Congress.
If all the measures pass, the state will need to eventually pay, Carranco said.
“We can keep waiting, but if we’re going to honor tribal water rights, if we’re going to actually get this money into our communities the way the state has negotiated for a long time with these partners, we’re going to need the $200 million,” she said in a press call Monday.
About 1/3 of those who lost homes in Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire have gotten final payment offers - By Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The federal office overseeing compensation for New Mexico’s biggest-ever wildfire has finally released numbers showing it has made final payment offers to about a third of people who lost their homes in the blaze more than two years ago.
New Mexico’s congressional delegation had been pressing the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire claims office for that number and other information, asking what was taking so long.
The claims office – overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency – is tasked with paying out nearly $4 billion in compensation for the fire, caused by botched prescribed burns in early 2022. According to the latest figures, it’s paid out about $1.5 billion of that, including for lost business revenue, reforestation and homes lost in the fire.
As of Nov. 20, the office had received 272 claims for total losses of homes in the wildfire, according to responses the federal office gave to questions members of the delegation sent earlier this month.
Of those, 174 claimants received at least partial payments for their losses, and 98 of them received a final payment offer, according to the response letter shared with the delegation early last week and provided Wednesday to Source New Mexico.
It’s not clear from the response letter how much has been paid to those who lost their homes, or how many of the homeowners accepted the final payment offer, which is known as a “letter of determination.” Claimants who are unhappy with the amount the office offered can appeal.
The status of those who lost their homes in the fire has been an open question for months. A group of protesters gathered in front of the office’s Santa Fe headquarters in late October, calling on the office to prioritize compensation for those who lost their homes over more-trivial losses like smoke damage.
The office had paid about $400 million for smoke damage to about 4,200 claimants in a 2,200-square-mile area as of Sept. 25, using an internal map and a standardized calculator to quickly distribute payments averaging $94,500 each.
U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, as well as U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, all New Mexico Democrats, sent a letter Nov. 1 to the office’s leadership, saying “many New Mexicans continue to wait for the relief and compensation they are owed.” The letter asked 13 questions on a range of topics.
Heinrich also questioned FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell about the issue during a hearing two weeks later. Heinrich told Criswell it seemed to him that those who lost everything in the fire were at the back of the line and asked her what the claims office was doing to address it.
Criswell responded that total-loss claims are more complicated and take more time, but the office has increased staff this year to handle the deluge of claims. The deadline to file an initial claim for losses incurred in the fire and ensuing floods, known as a “notice of loss,” is Dec. 20.
The claims office response letter also says officials created a “reconstruction team” that is entirely focused on compensating those who suffered a total loss of their primary or secondary homes.
The back-and-forth over delays in compensation occurs as an additional $1.5 billion in compensation hangs in the balance. President Joe Biden carved out the extra funding for wildfire survivors in a nearly $100 billion disaster response package he’s hoping Congress will approve by the end of the year.
If approved, that would bring the total awarded for compensation $5.45 billion for the state’s biggest-ever wildfire, one that destroyed several hundred homes and burned through a 534-square mile area.
Spokespersons for Heinrich and Luján did not respond to requests for comment on the office’s response letter.
The delegation is hopeful legislation will extend the deadline from the rapidly approaching Dec. 20 deadline, but they urged those who suffered losses to apply right away, given the uncertainty with a new Congress and a narrow timeframe.
OFFICE DEFENDS FOOD LOSS POLICY
One of the 13 questions the delegation asked related to how the office pays people for food lost in the fire. Across the burn scar, many families in rural areas kept stores of food in extra freezers, which were either destroyed or stopped working amid widespread power outages during the fire.
FEMA’s claims office pays people for lost food based on the gender and age of the claimant, based off another federal agency’s guidance. A man aged 19 to 50 receives $104.70 for a week’s worth of lost food. A woman in the same age range gets $93.
The policy is based on the United States Department of Agriculture’s food plans, which the agency says have been created since 1894 to “illustrate how a healthy diet can be achieved at various costs.”
The delegation’s Nov. 1 letter asked the claims office how it was “ensuring equity in food loss payments,” and, if it were to change its policy to make it more equitable, how it could make up the difference to those who had previously been shortchanged.
The office’s response letter says leaders have no intention of changing the food loss policy, however. It did a “thorough review” of the process after consulting with Heinrich’s office and the USDA.
“Our review concluded that our current standardized rates for food loss are consistent with the methodology used in the creation of the USDA Food Plan tables,” the letter reads.
Some wildfire survivors told Source New Mexico they thought the process was unnecessarily complicated and unfair. The office has previously said it cannot calculate how much money has been paid to date for food losses, including how much more men have been paid than women.
The office, in its response, also doubled down on its practice of paying different hourly wages based on the county in which do-it-yourself repairs were done. The same work would be reimbursed at $18.97 an hour in Mora County, for example, versus $29.49 an hour in Santa Fe County.
It said the hourly wages were calculated based on analyses of Census and federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which considered the costs of goods and services that are typically higher in urban areas than rural areas.
Albuquerque City Council approves legislative requests - By Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
The Albuquerque City Council wants state lawmakers during next year’s legislative session to focus on public safety, behavioral health and homelessness, according to the wishlist the Council approved Monday night.
Councilors are also asking legislators to approve multiple capital outlay requests during the legislative session, which starts next month.
Among the council’s legislative priorities are requests for stricter penalties for certain criminal offenses, rent stabilization programs and low-income utility rate assistance. One priority calls for behavioral health and addiction services to be an “alternative to jail for some non-violent offenders.”
The councilor’s list of capital outlay projects includes improvements to the Route 66 Visitors Center, building a trauma-sensitive shelter, healthcare and case management housing complex for unhoused seniors in District 6 and building an aquatic center at North Domingo Baca Park.
Council President Dan Lewis and Councilors Brook Bassan, Dan Champine, Renée Grout and Louie Sanchez are also requesting renovations and updates to the Albuquerque Shooting Range Park, which received some backlash from firearm instructors several months ago for its “unsanitary conditions.”
Councilors also approved Mayor Tim Keller’s administration’s legislative requests that include crime and homelessness initiatives. Those policy and program requests include expanding affordable housing, reducing gun violence and strengthening collaboration and procedures. Some of the specific requests include:
· Establish medical check protocols between the University of New Mexico Hospital and the Metropolitan Detention Center
· Require parole/probation officers to notify police and victims when offenders are released
· Implement “Duke City Stats” to other jurisdictions in crime strategy and tracking
· Establish vacant and dilapidated building policies
Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel told councilors that most requests for the mayor’s Metro Crime Initiative have been the administration’s focus for multiple years. Sengel said that the Metro Homelessness Initiative is the administration’s opportunity to ensure “we’re providing support for individuals that are unhoused as well as encourage our inventory of available housing.”
City ends contracts with housing voucher provider citing fund misuse - By Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ
City officials confirmed this week that the Health, Housing & Homelessness Department (HHH) has ended its contracts with the Supportive Housing Coalition of New Mexico (SHCNM) — a longtime housing voucher service provider assisting those who otherwise might be unhoused or precariously housed. Officials said SHCNM misused $234,000 in funds for administrative and operational costs instead of making voucher payments to landlords.
SHCNM leadership said the nonprofit’s financial issues began after millions in housing voucher funds was cut from the last city budget, which was finalized in the summer.
Housing vouchers are considered an essential step toward more stable options for those who qualify. The city enters into contracts with nonprofit providers to administer the vouchers on behalf of clients who use it to cover up to 70% of their monthly rent.
The city said it has begun a “corrective action plan” to recoup the backpayments that were owed to landlords and ultimately paid by the city to avoid tenant evictions. The required backpayment amount, said HHH spokesperson Connor Woods, was determined through SHCNM reporting and verified by landlords.
Woods said the city has also notified the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor and the city’s Office of Inspector General about the issue.
At Monday’s City Council meeting, Councilor Reneé Grout asked city Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel if officials were authorized to make direct payments to landlords instead of through service providers.
“We made a decision to ensure that we did not allow any [rental payment] lapse and ensure that no one would be unhoused,” Sengel replied. “So it was essentially an emergency decision.”
Woods said no evictions took place due to the city’s payments.
Grout told Sengel she was concerned that almost $250,000 funneled through SHCNM was unaccounted for.
“We don’t know where it is,” she said. “How many people could this be housing right now if this money hadn’t been spent improperly? It bothers me greatly; I know it bothers you, too.”
REPAYMENT, CLIENT TRANSFER
Meanwhile, SHCNM interim director Debbie Davis told City Desk ABQ on Monday that the nonprofit was recently notified that the city had decided not to renew almost $2 million in permanent supportive housing voucher contracts, which it has administered for several years.
“They paid all the backpayments and now we have to enter into a payment agreement with them,” she said.
Davis said officials told her the nonprofit has 15 days to make repayment, but that a meeting was scheduled Tuesday to discuss the details. She’s been the interim executive director since Nov. 15 and was previously the chief operating officer for three and a half years.
“We used [voucher funds] to pay expenses for the company and rent — just not all the rent,” she said. “There wasn’t anything we could do but admit to [the city] that it was going on.”
Woods said the city first discovered there was an issue with SHCNM payments in July, and that direct payments to landlords began Nov. 1.
“Keeping people housed is the No. 1 priority,” Davis said. “We’re transferring the [client] files and doing everything we need to do. We still have community housing staff who will work diligently to get it done.”
SHCNM owns and/or manages three affordable housing properties in Albuquerque, and one each in Las Vegas and Gallup.
About 120 SHCNM voucher clients — representing families and individuals — are expected to be transitioned to other providers “in months if not weeks,” according to Sengel.
When asked which providers would absorb the voucher clients, Woods said the city was negotiating agreements.
“Once those contracts have been finalized, we will be able to share this information,” he said.
At the City Council meeting, Councilor Brook Bassan asked Sengel how the city knows that all the compromised tenants have been made aware of the situation and that their rent payments have been made.
“I ask because I had heard of an individual just this last weekend who found out about this — what I’m going to call a debacle — and they claimed that they were $4,000 in arrears and were in tears and not sure what’s going to happen next,” Bassan said. “So how do we make sure … that we’re helping those people that might not have even heard that the city might be helping them?”
Senegal said the city’s voucher tracking process ensured that landlords were being paid and that clients weren’t falling through the cracks.
In the meantime, the city has also set up a web page for housing voucher clients wishing to report issues with SHCNM.
Native American students miss school at higher rates. It only got worse during the pandemic - By Cheyanne Mumphrey, Sharon Lurye and Morgan Lee, Associated Press
After missing 40 days of school last year, Tommy Betom, 10, is on track this year for much better attendance. The importance of showing up has been stressed repeatedly at school — and at home.
When he went to school last year, he often came home saying the teacher was picking on him and other kids were making fun of his clothes. But Tommy's grandmother Ethel Marie Betom, who became one of his caregivers after his parents split, said she told him to choose his friends carefully and to behave in class.
He needs to go to school for the sake of his future, she told him.
"I didn't have everything," said Betom, an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache tribe. Tommy attends school on the tribe's reservation in southeastern Arizona. "You have everything. You have running water in the house, bathrooms and a running car."
A teacher and a truancy officer also reached out to Tommy's family to address his attendance. He was one of many. Across the San Carlos Unified School District, 76% of students were chronically absent during the 2022-2023 school year, meaning they missed 10% or more of the school year.
Years after COVID-19 disrupted American schools, nearly every state is still struggling with attendance. But attendance has been worse for Native American students — a disparity that existed before the pandemic and has since grown, according to data collected by The Associated Press.
Out of 34 states with data available for the 2022-2023 school year, half had absenteeism rates for Native American and Alaska Native students that were at least 9 percentage points higher than the state average.
Many schools serving Native students have been working to strengthen connections with families, who often struggle with higher rates of illness and poverty. Schools also must navigate distrust dating back to the U.S. government's campaign to break up Native American culture, language and identity by forcing children into abusive boarding schools.
History "may cause them to not see the investment in a public school education as a good use of their time," said Dallas Pettigrew, director of Oklahoma University's Center for Tribal Social Work and a member of the Cherokee Nation.
On-site health, trauma care helped bring students back
The San Carlos school system recently introduced care centers that partner with hospitals, dentists and food banks to provide services to students at multiple schools. The work is guided by cultural success coaches — school employees who help families address challenges that keep students from coming to school.
Nearly 100% of students in the district are Native and more than half of families have incomes below the federal poverty level. Many students come from homes that deal with alcoholism and drug abuse, Superintendent Deborah Dennison said.
Students miss school for reasons ranging from anxiety to unstable living conditions, said Jason Jones, a cultural success coach at San Carlos High School and an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache tribe. Acknowledging their fears, grief and trauma helps him connect with students, he said.
"You feel better, you do better," Jones said. "That's our job here in the care center is to help the students feel better."
In the 2023-2024 school year, the chronic absenteeism rate in the district fell from 76% to 59% — an improvement Dennison attributes partly to efforts to address their communities' needs.
"All these connections with the community and the tribe are what's making a difference for us and making the school a system that fits them rather than something that has been forced upon them, like it has been for over a century of education in Indian Country," said Dennison, a member of the Navajo Nation.
In three states — Alaska, Nebraska, and South Dakota — the majority of Native American and Alaska Native students were chronically absent. In some states, it has continued to worsen, even while improving slightly for other students, as in Arizona, where chronic absenteeism for Native students rose from 22% in 2018-2019 to 45% in 2022-2023.
AP's analysis does not include data on schools managed by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education, which are not run by traditional districts. Less than 10% of Native American students attend BIE schools.
Schools close on days of Native ceremonial gatherings
At Algodones Elementary School, which serves a handful of Native American pueblos along New Mexico's Upper Rio Grande, about two-thirds of students are chronically absent.
The communities were hit hard by COVID-19, with devastating impacts on elders. Since schools reopened, students have been slow to return. Excused absences for sick days are still piling up — in some cases, Principal Rosangela Montoya suspects, students are stressed about falling behind academically.
Staff and tribal liaisons have been analyzing every absence and emphasizing connections with parents. By 10 a.m., telephone calls go out to the homes of absent students. Next steps include in-person meetings with those students' parents.
"There's illness. There's trauma," Montoya said. "A lot of our grandparents are the ones raising the children so that the parents can be working."
About 95% of Algodones' students are Native American, and the school strives to affirm their identity. It doesn't open on four days set aside for Native American ceremonial gatherings, and students are excused for absences on other cultural days as designated by the nearby pueblos.
For Jennifer Tenorio, it makes a difference that the school offers classes in the family's native language of Keres. She speaks Keres at home, but says that's not always enough to instill fluency.
Tenorio said her two oldest children, now in their 20s, were discouraged from speaking Keres when enrolled in the federal Head Start educational program — a system that now promotes native language preservation — and they struggled academically.
"It was sad to see with my own eyes," said Tenorio, a single parent and administrative assistant who has used the school's food bank. "In Algodones, I saw a big difference to where the teachers were really there for the students, and for all the kids, to help them learn."
Over a lunch of strawberry milk and enchiladas on a recent school day, her 8-year-old son Cameron Tenorio said he likes math and wants to be a policeman.
"He's inspired," Tenorio said. "He tells me every day what he learns."
Home visits change perception of school
In Arizona, Rice Intermediate School Principal Nicholas Ferro said better communication with families, including Tommy Betom's, has helped improve attendance. Since many parents are without working phones, he said, that often means home visits.
Lillian Curtis said she has been impressed by Rice Intermediate's student activities on family night. Her granddaughter, Brylee Lupe, 10, missed 10 days of school by mid-October last year but had missed just two days by the same time this year.
"The kids always want to go — they are anxious to go to school now. And Brylee is much more excited," said Curtis, who takes care of her grandchildren.
Curtis said she tells Brylee that skipping school is not an option.
"I just told her that you need to be in school, because who is going to be supporting you?" Curtis said. "You've got to do it on your own. You got to make something of yourself."
The district has made gains because it is changing the perception of school and what it can offer, said Dennison, the superintendent. Its efforts have helped not just with attendance but also morale, especially at the high school, she said.
"Education was a weapon for the U.S. government back in the past," she said. "We work to decolonize our school system."