homelessness

The City of Santa Fe announced it will bring back a no-camping policy that would prohibit sleeping in parks. With around 150 people unhoused on the streets of Santa Fe each night, the city will also begin strategizing to meet the needs of that community.

After shutting down a large encampment at Coronado Park last week, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and other city officials are highlighting the status of the Gateway Center, which will provide an array of services, including emergency shelter and medical care, to the city’s unhoused population. Construction is underway and the first phase of the center should open next summer.

Controlled encampments or safe spaces for people who are unhoused are becoming more common around the country as housing costs keep rising. In Albuquerque, the city council approved the idea then reversed course and passed a moratorium on them. In Santa Fe, plans for a safe space at the Midtown campus also hit opposition. On this week’s Let’s Talk New Mexico, we’ll talk about managed encampments.

Stakeholders, residents, and policy makers in New Mexico are grappling with whether to create a system of controlled encampments for unhoused people. Wednesday night the Santa Fe City Council heard a similar proposal.

On the next Let’s Talk New Mexico, we’re looking past the day shelters and soup kitchens to ask how chronic homelessness can be solved in the long term. We’ll be tackling the issue with representatives for city governments, non-profit organizations, and folks who offer trauma-informed care to those who have experienced homelessness first-hand.

Pete's Place was opened more than a decade ago because in the cold Santa Fe winters, people who were drunk or high and had nowhere to go could and did freeze to death. It has likely saved many lives. But the shelter has lately become a focus of frustration for some local residents and businesses, who say more people are living on the street outside, that their behavior is antisocial and they sometimes cause damage.

From helping people who are unhoused to addressing the lack of affordable homes in New Mexico, we have a serious problem with no easy or quick solution. There are some lawmakers who are trying to help though. On the latest from #YNMG we'll discuss some of the bills that have been filed to help with housing with KUNM reporter Alice Fordham.

As homeless shelters are stretched, and housing advocates warn rising rents could cause more evictions, lawmakers are proposing legislation that would give tenants more protections.

10/7, 8am: The three men vying for mayor of Albuquerque faced off on September 27 at a forum hosted by the New Mexico Black Voters Collaborative. The…

2020 was a long year. We don't have to tell you. It was a constant barrage of reality-shaping events, and it hasn’t stopped. What is different for us now…