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ABQ To Expand Housing Voucher Programs

Ron Reiring
/
Creative Commons

The City of Albuquerque is looking to get more people experiencing homelessness into temporary housing assistance by early winter. The city plans to spend two million dollars on a new rapid re-housing contract.

The money will provide temporary housing vouchers to up to 150 households. That’s on top of an existing 750 vouchers already administered by local non-profits.

"We have lots of data to show that when folks who are experiencing homelessness get a housing voucher and get into housing with the right supportive services, they stay housed," said Lisa Huval, deputy director of housing and homelessness with the city’s family and community services department. "It’s like a solution to homelessness."

Huval says the availability of vacant rental units in Albuquerque makes the voucher program a good fit.

Recipients are meant to find a modest, safe apartment on the private market; where they can live depends on landlords being willing to work with the voucher program.

About 5,000 households applied for services due to homelessness in 2018 through the city's coordinated entry assessment system.

This month, the city expanded its drop-off and pick-up locations for the Westside Emergency Shelter, which used to be open only in the winter.

This fall, the city will ask voters to approve another $14 million dollars to build a more centrally located year-round shelter.

For more information on services available to those experiencing homelessness, check out the ABQ Coordinated Resource Guide, call the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness at (505) 217-9570 or email cap@nmceh.org.

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Support for KUNM’s Public Health New Mexico project comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation, and from KUNM listeners like you.

Hannah served as news director at KUNM and reported on education, Albuquerque politics, and anything public health-related. She died in November 2020.