The City of Albuquerque is looking to make it easier to establish Safe Outdoor Spaces for people living on the streets by changing a few key ordinances. Only one space has been opened so far, which is located at New Creation Church in the International District.
Safe Outdoor Spaces, also sometimes called sanctioned encampments, are designated areas where unhoused people can live outdoors that are secure, supervised, and come with basic amenities like access to restrooms and showers.
Current resident at New Creation’s space, Michael Maldonado, said the space not only feels safe and provides him a transitional spot, but that he’s found a sense of belonging.
“As a matter of fact I was gonna barbecue before it started raining,” he said. “We get along great. We all go out and get food for each other and stuff like that. Whatever’s needed. It’s a pretty tight community and we help each other out. Yeah it’s pretty cool."
Maldonado was speaking at a meeting Monday as monsoons rains fell on the International District, where Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller spoke with the church’s Pastor, Jesse Harden about some of the challenges New Creation faced when trying to open the space.
“We had to kind of go through the hoops, and it was a really long, painful process, a lot of paperwork, a lot of kind of site plans and ordinances and trying to figure out all of that,” Harden said. “It took months and months to work out.”
Keller said his administration is working with the city council to change the ordinances governing safe outdoor spaces to try to attract more organizations, especially churches and non-profits, to establish their own.
“We know it can work, but we've got to make this easier on folks to do,” he said. “We need dozens and dozens of safe outdoor spaces just like the one right here.
The plan is to remove the requirement for 24/7 access to showers, which Keller says can be substituted with solutions like having a trailer with showers come around to different encampments on a schedule. They also plan to remove the requirement for dedicated space on premises for a service provider to assist residents with social services.
“You can typically find a shelter area where you can have those consultations and provide services,” Keller said.”You don't necessarily need dedicated space that's then empty the rest of the time.”
In addition, the city wants the owners of the spaces to decide when security needs to be on premises as opposed to the current 24/7 requirement, which Harden cites as a major barrier.
“It's our highest expense,” Harden said. “If you pay someone minimum wage to be there 24/7 it's over $100,000 a year. So that, right there, eliminates 99% of people who try to do it.”
Organizations interested in starting a space can contact the City’s Planning Department for guidance.
The ordinance is slated to be introduced this fall by Councilor Nichole Rogers.
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