An Albuquerque shelter for people experiencing homelessness opened a receiving area for first responders Wednesday. That is in addition to several other services the city is adding on to the still-new shelter.
The city opened the Gateway Center last year in a former hospital on Gibson Boulevard but is continuing construction into next year and opening services in phases.
The latest is an area for first responders to bring people who are experiencing homelessness and in need of the services the shelter provides. Mayor Tim Keller said that’s an improvement.
“There's nowhere to go except for the emergency room or jail that is 24/7 and no barrier,” Keller said.
The new receiving area isn’t open 24/7 yet – the staff will start with evening hours to focus on the gap in overnight services. The city estimates it will not be 24/7 for another couple months.
Gilbert Ramirez,the new director of the Albuquerque Health, Housing and Homelessness Department, said the next phases of the project to roll out will be medical respite and sobering. He also said medical sobering in particular, which entails providing medical care to people intoxicated in public, will help alleviate capacity issues at the city’s hospitals.
“They don't need to clog up ERs if there's no other health issues. Let’s offload those somewhere else, so we can get them into that,” he said.
The Gateway Center currently has 85 beds, and all are occupied. A spokesperson for the city said another 300 beds will become available later this year.
The receiving area adds a new way that people can enter Gateway, which generally doesn’t admit walk-ins. That means a person needs a referral from an organization that works with the shelter to be admitted.
This coverage is made possible by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners.
