Gateway Recovery is a micro-community made up of pallet storage units converted into “tiny homes” for the city’s unsheltered community and people experiencing substance use disorder. The micro-community is located in the industrial area of the 3400 block of the Pan American Freeway just south of the Comanche exit to house 50 people in 46 pallet homes. This includes 42 single-occupancy homes and four double-occupancy homes for couples.
People will be able to stay up to 24 months or until they are connected to longer-term recovery housing. Two on-site community rooms will be dedicated to behavioral health treatment, case management, and housing navigation. The City intends to contract with a provider to operate Gateway Recovery
A report commissioned by the Department of Health, Housing, and Homelessness found there is a shortage of low-barrier recovery housing in our city. The study indicated there are only 800 recovery beds available throughout Albuquerque, and further analysis of the data recommended the City find innovative approaches to expanding housing options. The Recovery Gateway will add critical services.
The link to the city website describing the Gateway Recovery project is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/health-housing-homelessness/gateway-network/gateway-recovery
$5 MILLION FOR “GATEWAY RECOVERY” PALLET TINEY HOMES
On May 3, the Mayor Tim Keller unveiled the “Gateway Recovery” tiny pallet homes project. At a cost of $5 million, the city of Albuquerque erected what it calls 46 tiny homes along with several bathrooms and utility stations meant to serve 50 people.
Some of the tiny homes allow couples, and the campus features a small dog park for pet owners and a dozen raised garden beds also dot the facility, expected to be used if not this spring, then next year. Gateway Recovery also has several security cameras, which, according to one of the program managers, cannot be accessed by police. Residents will not be allowed to use drugs on the property but will be offered treatment and therapy services, as well as connected to employment opportunities, over a 12 to 18 month stay.
Albuquerque’s Health, Housing and Homelessness Director Gilbert Ramírez said that the community of “tiny” homes is not a walk-up facility. It is meant to serve individuals who have completed detox and need a safe, stable environment to maintain sobriety and continue their recovery and receive a referral to be there.
At the unveiling of Gateway Recovery, Ramírez said the project’s goal is nothing short of saving lives. Ramírez said this:
“Going into detox, that’s a huge step for a person to make that commitment. … But what happens when you get out? Do we just walk away and say you’re done, and you should be fine? That’s not the case. The reality is that you need the next step of help. This is that next step.”
STAGGERING DATA
The most recent data from the New Mexico Department of Health reported 948 drug overdose deaths and 1,896 alcohol-related deaths in 2023, the most recent available data. The Department of Health report argued that recovery housing was a critical community asset for individuals recovering from substance use disorders. It also detailed the levels of support offered, such as peer-led homes to residential treatment centers, and emphasizes the value of a safe community residence that promotes recovery.
Ramírez said Gateway Recovery will be well-positioned to help unhoused people in the throes of addiction because the city has done its homework. He cited a 2024 report commissioned by the city examining recovery housing in Albuquerque. Ramirez said this:
“Everything around this was evidence-based. We understand the need in our community, how many units we have available, and what the gap is.”
NO TENANTS YET
Gateway Recovery hasn’t begun accepting residents. Mayor Tim Keller for his part said filling the units is the first step. Keller said this:
“The demand for this is so high. I mean, it’s, I’m not exaggerating, it’s probably in the thousands.”
Keller said Gateway Recovery will take a few months to complete. Once it’s up and running, Keller said the city will measure success based on the number of people who enter permanent housing, either with a family member or independently, and maintain sobriety. The providers will report that information to the city.
And if successful, Albuquerque should expect more such facilities. Keller said this:
“Addiction is the number one problem facing Albuquerque and the rest of the country. And so the more facilities for folks to get help, the better. … We’ve got to start somewhere.”
The link to the relied upon or quoted news source is here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/article_3286c956-cf9c-4bcc-b097-8408e080e49d.html
AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM
The Keller Administration has attempted to take a comprehensive approach to address homelessness, behavioral health, and addiction treatment with an integrated system. Over the past few years, the City has taken critical steps to build out a network of support known as the Gateway Network. The City is now providing shelter and services to more than 1,000 men, women, and children nightly through the Gateway Network, with more programs and services coming online this year.
On April 1, the Keller Administration submitted its proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget to the City Council that must adopt it by June 30. The 2026 fiscal year begins on July 1, 2025 and ends June 30, 2026. The proposed fiscal year 2026 budget “reinforces funding compassionate, effective solutions to homelessness and provides expanded behavioral health and addiction treatment resources to address the needs of our community’s most vulnerable residents.”
The priorities contained in the F/Y 26 budget include:
- Leveraging opioid settlement funding to get hundreds more people off our streets and connected to the treatment, housing, and services they need to recover.
- $8 million for permanent supportive housing vouchers to support the City’s Housing First model. Full funding for service contracts for mental health, substance abuse, early intervention and prevention programs, domestic violence shelters and services, sexual assault services, health and social service center providers, and services to abused, neglected and abandoned youth.
- $6.9 million for Gateway West, which is the old west side jail that has been extensively remodeled and which operates at close to full occupancy for much of the year.
- $500 thousand to continue the funding for Albuquerque Street Connect, a program that focuses on people experiencing homelessness who use the most emergency services and care, to establish ongoing relationships that result in permanent supportive housing.
The Gateway Network of support for people struggling with homelessness and addiction includes the following:
- Gateway Center: This is the Lovelace Hospital on Gibson acquired by the city remodeled it into a campus facility providing medical, behavioral, and social services including overnight beds, first responder intake, medical sobering and respite.
- Annual Impact: 20,200 Individuals
- Open Since 2022, more services coming in 2025
- Gateway West: This is the remodeled West Side Jail that provides safe, supportive 660-bed facility for individuals experiencing homelessness, offering specialized resources and case management.
- Annual Impact: 5,700 Individuals
- Open 24/7 Since 2019
- Gateway Family: Supportive housing center for families with overnight beds, meals, and case management to help achieve stable housing.
- Annual Impact: 987 Individuals
- Open Since 2020
- Gateway Recovery: 50-resident micro-community offering low-barrier beds, recovery services, and support for 18 – 24 months.
- Annual projected Impact: 50 – 100
- Opening Early 2025
- Gateway Young Adult: Housing and support for young adults ages 15-25 experiencing homelessness, tailored to their unique needs.
- Annual projected Impact: 120 Individuals
- Opening Late 2025
The Gateway Center on Gibsson, SE, houses critical services and seven tenants.
The services provided are:
- First Responder Receiving Area – 20 people/night
- Medical Sobering Center – 50 people/night
- Medical Respite Center – 50 people/night
- Women’s Navigation Center – 50 people/night plus additional 50 coming on line
- Men’s Navigation Center – 92 people/night with the beds coming on line
- Engagement Center – providing connection/access services to more than 1,000 people per year
The Tenants are:
- Turquoise Lodge Behavioral Hospital
- Haven Behavioral Hospital
- Ideal Option Substance Use Disorder Treatment
- AMG Hospital
- National Alliance on Mental Illness
- Vizionz-Sankofa Resource Center
- Albuquerque Community Safety – Trauma Recovery Center
The link to the quoted or relied upon news sources is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/mayor/news/city-administration2019s-budget-prioritizes-safety-jobs-families
CITY’S UNHOUSED NUMBERS
The Point-In-Time (PIT) count is the annual count of individuals and families experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness within a community on a single night in January. The PIT count is the official number of homeless reported by communities to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help understand the extent of homelessness at the city, state, regional and national levels and for the award of federal funding.
On July 31, the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness released the 2024 Point-In-Time (PIT) Report for the numbers of unhoused in Albuquerque. The 2024 PIT count occurred on the night of January 29. The 2024 Point-In-Time homeless survey of homeless people in a 24 hour period found a whopping 18% increase in Albuquerque’s homeless numbers.
The link to review the entire 62-page 2024 PIT report is here:
https://www.nmceh.org/_files/ugd/ad7ad8_4e2a2906787e4ca19853b9c7945a4dc9
The 2024 Point-In-Time homeless survey found an 18% increase in Albuquerque’s homeless numbers. Whenever the Point In Time survey is released, the city and service providers proclaim it is only for one night and that it is a serious under count of the homeless.
PERSONS COUNTED IN ALBUQUERQUE
The 2024 PIT survey reported that the total count of PERSONS experiencing homelessness in Albuquerque on January 29, 2024 was 2,740 broken down in 3 categories.
- Emergency Shelters: 1,289
- Transitional Housing: 220
- Unsheltered: 1,231
TOTAL PERSONS: 2,740
HOUSEHOLDS COUNTED IN ALBUQUERQUE
The 2024 PIT survey reported that the total count of HOUSEHOLDS experiencing homelessness in Albuquerque on January 29, 2024 was 2,248. (Households include those with or without children or only children.)
The breakdown of HOUSEHOLDS is as follows:
- Emergency Shelters: 1,018
- Transitional Housing: 174
- Unsheltered: 1,056
TOTAL HOUSEHOLDS: 2,248
CITY HEALTH, HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS DEPARTMENT
The City of Albuquerque budget is referred to as a “performance based budget.” A performance-based budget requires the departments to submit statistics of work performed to justify budgets submitted.
The Health, Housing and Homelessness (HHH) Department provides a wide range of services to assist the homeless. The services offered by the department directly or by contract with community providers include the following:
- Behavioral health services which include mental health and substance abuse treatment programs
- Homeless services
- Domestic violence support
- Health care
- Gang/violence intervention and prevention
- Public health services
- Rental assistance; and
- Affordable housing developments
HHH also operates four Health and Social Service Centers. Services are incorporated within programs to allow for performance measures and to align specifically to city goals and desired community conditions.
The proposed FY/26 General Fund budget for HHH totals $53.3 million, including $8 million for housing vouchers budgeted in City Support for the transfer to Operating Grant Fund (265), an increase of $2.1 million above the FY/25 original budget. The FY/26 proposed budget for the department’s grants are estimated at $4.2 million in the Community Development Fund and $2.5 million in the Operating Grants Fund.
The F/Y 26 proposed budget for HHH includes funding for a total of 100 full time employees (FTE) which is identical to F/Y 25.
The link to review the entire 234 page proposed 2026 fiscal year budget with bars and graphs and the individual 27 departments proposed budgets is here with the budget for the HHH Department on page 121 listing service contracts:
Click to access fy26-proposed-budget-web-version.pdf
Notable performance measures reported in the proposed budget for the HHH department for 2026 reflecting the following statistics on the homeless for the past 3 years:
NUMBER OF HOMELESS PEOPLE PROVIDED EMERGENCY SHELTER FROM CITY
- Actual F/Y 2023: 6,103
- Actual F/Y 2024: 7,420
- Target F/Y 2025: 7,257
- Mid F/Y 2025: 3,576
- 2026 F/Y Budget Target: 8,439
NUMBER OF FORMERLY HOMELESS HOUSEHOLDS PROVIDED WITH RENTAL ASSISTANCE PLUS SUPPORTIVE SERVICES FROM
- Actual F/Y 2023: 1,004
- Actual F/Y 2024: 1,233
- Target F/Y 2025: 1,114
- Mid F/Y 2025: 853
- 2026 F/Y Budget Target: 998
NUMBER OF YOUTH AND ADULTS WHO RECEIVE SUBSTANCE USE TREATMENT SERVICES FROM CITY
- Actual F/Y 2023: 562
- Actual F/Y 2024: 1,120
- Target F/Y 2025: 655
- Mid F/Y 2025: 692
- 2026 F/Y Budget Target: 1,270
NUMBER OF PEOPLE WITH A SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS DIAGNOSIS OR A DEMONSTRATED NEED FOR INTENSIVE LEVEL OF SERVICES WHO RECEIVE INTENSIVE CASE MANAGEMENT OR ASSERTIVE COMMUNITY TREATMENT SERVICES FROM CITY
- Actual F/Y 2023: 341
- Actual F/Y 2024: 287
- Target F/Y 2025: 409
- Mid F/Y 2025: 219
- 2026 F/Y Budget Target: 332
CITY’S FINANCIAL COMMITMENT TO HOMELES UNDER KELLER
Keller has spent upwards of $275 million in the last 3 years on homeless shelters, programs, and the city purchasing and remodeling motels for low-income housing. On April 6, 2021 Keller announced that the city acquired the old Lovelace Hospital on Gibson for $15 million and then spent an additional $90 million to remodel it into the Gateway shelter. In the last two years, the Keller Administration has spent $25 million to purchase and remodel motels for low-income housing which would also be used for the unhoused.
Originally, it was the city’s Family Community Services Department (FCS) Department that provided assistance to the homeless. In fiscal year 2021-2022, the department spent $35,145,851 on homeless initiatives. In 2022-2023 fiscal year the department spent $59,498,915 on homeless initiatives. On June 23, 2022 Mayor Tim Keller announced that the city was adding $48 million to the FY23 budget to address housing and homelessness issues in Albuquerque.
The proposed FY/26 General Fund budget for the HHH Department is $52.2 million, which includes $48 million for strategic support, health and human services, affordable housing, mental health services, emergency shelter, homeless support services, Gibson Health HUB operating, and substance use services from Family and Community Services Department, and $4.2 million for a move of Gibson Health HUB maintenance division form General Service Department.
The Keller Administration in its F/Y 2026 budget is seeking funding for 116 separate services contracts to pay for services provided to the unhoused:
- $30,381,000for 32 Affordable Housing contracts,
- $6,347,619for 12 Emergency Shelter contracts,
- $1,962,480for 16 Health Service Contracts,
- $5,746,188for 29 Homeless Support Service Contracts,
- $3,864,500for 5 Gateway Shelter Operating contracts,
- $2,825,400for 11 Mental Health Service Contracts,
- $2,573,526million for 11 Substance Abuse Treatment Contracts
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Notwithstanding all the millions being spent each year, homelessness continues to surge and it has spiked by 18% as Mayor Keller allows the unhoused to proliferate city streets, parks and open space declining to aggressively enforce city and state vagrancy laws. The problem is 75% of the chronic, emergency unhoused refuse to accept city services offered by the city yet Keller continues to throw city resources at the crisis. $325 mullion over four years is an astonishing amount of funding for the actual number of people being provided services.
Keller has taken an “all the above approach” to deal with the city’s homeless crisis by establishing 5 shelters to deal with the homeless that should be operating as an integrated system. The blunt reality is that Mayor Keller has essentially proclaimed the unhoused as “wards of the city” to provide food and lodging and medical care support services when such a responsibility should be undertaken by the state or federal government.
The most recent released 2024 annual Point-In-Time homeless survey count found an 18% increase in the homeless with upwards of 3,000 chronic homeless in the city. It has been reported by those who participated in taking this year’s 2025 PIT survey that 75% of those in need immediate and urgent shelter refuse city services preferring to be left alone to continue living on the streets. The city’s performance measures reports that the city’s emergency shelter needs are between 6,103 as reported in 2023 and 7,420 as reported in 2024.
Despite Keller’s spending efforts to assist the unhoused, the city’s homeless numbers continue to spike as the crisis worsens and as the unhoused refuse services and as they take over our streets and parks. The upwards of $300 million already spent by the Keller Administration over the last 3 years with another $52.2 million for F/Y 2026 to help 3,000 to 7,400 is unsustainable and must be justified for so few who actually accept the services. $300 million in funding would have gone a long way to finance community centers, senior citizen centers, police and fire substations, preschool or after school programs, senior citizen programs, and police and fire programs.
The City Council needs to exert itself and call for a complete and thorough audit by the City’s Internal Audit or the Inspector General’s Office of all the 116 contracts issued by the city to assist the unhoused and determine what is being accomplished and the extent of services actually being provided and the actual number being served. The city should not continue down the road Mayor Tim Keller has lead them of an unsustainable financial black hole creating wards of the city. The city must demand more from the state and the federal government to assume more costs.
CIVIL MENTAL HEALTH COMMITMENTS VIABLE OPTION
The 2024 legislature enacted the Behavioral Health package that will fund half billion trust fund to build behavioral health facilities an hire personnel in 3 regions. The county also has behavioral health tax where facilities are also being built. Mayor Keller and the city was misguided to convert the old Lovelace hospital to a 24/7 shelter and should have kept it as a hospital and use the 200 patient rooms for civil mental health commitments. Part of the enacted behavioral health package expands definition of serious danger to self and others an DA can get people committed for longer periods of time and compel treatment. The Courts will be in charge and they are committed to getting this done.
A viable solution to deal with the mentally ill and drug addicted homeless who refuse city services is the initiation of civil mental health commitments by the state to mandate mental health care or drug addiction counseling in a hospital setting after a court hearing that determines a person is a danger to themselves or others. Such approach would in fact get the mentally ill and drug addicted the health care they desperately need and off the streets.