There are three major initiatives by the City Council and the Mayor Keller Administration directed at reducing the unhoused numbers on the streets of in Albuquerque. Those initiatives are:
- City Council enactment of the “Enhanced Service and Safety Zone Ordinance”.
- Safe Outdoor Spaces to be offered to the unhoused at the Gateway West Shelter.
- A new City Diversion Program for the Unhoused
This article examines all three initiatives and their potential impact on getting the unhoused off the streets of Albuquerque. The article addresses the legal challenges, the statistical data on the unhoused and the millions being spent by the city to benefit so few as a majority chronic unhoused refuse city services. The article proposes civil mental health commitments as a viable solution to get the chronically unhoused off the streets of Albuquerque.
- “ENHANCED SERVICE AND SAFETY ZONE” ORDINANCE
On Monday, May 1, the Albuquerque City Council enacted the “Enhanced Service and Safety Zone Ordinance”. Under the ordinance, it would be unlawful to sit, sleep, lie or camp on public sidewalks, streets, bike paths or alleys inside designated zones if the activity blocks pedestrian passage under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ordinance says the designated zones are intended for commercial areas with high crime rates and recurring public safety concerns, including sidewalk obstructions and encampments.
The new ordinance allows enhanced city services, including increased Albuquerque Police Department patrols, more frequent Albuquerque Community Safety responses, sidewalk and street cleaning, graffiti abatement, trash collection and expanded code enforcement. Violations could carry penalties of up to $500 and up to 90 days in jail.
The new ordinance is an effort to address the proliferation of the homeless on city streets in the downtown area of the city. The ordinance allows the mayor to create designated enforcement areas for police and city sanitation workers to patrol more frequently. The ordinance gives APD the ability to issue a $500 fine or 30 days in jail time to anyone sitting, sleeping or lying on a public sidewalk in those zones after a written warning is ignored.
The new ordinance empowers the Mayor’s Office to select problem areas around the city and justify imposing the new law at the selected areas. To be eligible, the area must be a concentrated commercial center, such as Downtown, Uptown or Nob Hill. It also must have a documented high crime rate compared to the rest of the city and “recurring issues” with public camping or people living on the sidewalks. Mayor Kellers administration must submit a detailed plan to the City Council for approval, including the boundaries of the enhanced safety zone, evidence that the area meets the criteria and how the city plans to pay for it. The ordinance provides that designated zones would last up to two years unless renewed by the City Council.
The ordinance passed the city council on a 6 to 3 vote. Republican Councilors Renée Grout, Brook Bassan, Dan Lewis, Dan Champine and Democrats Klarissa Peña and Joaquín Baca all voted for the ordinance. Progressive Democrats Tammy Fiebelkorn, Nichole Rogers and City Councilor Stephanie Telles voted against the ordinance after they offered numerous failed amendments in attempts to soften the law.
Links to quoted or relied upon news sources are here:
- SAFE OUTDOOR SPACES TO BE OFFERED TO THE UNHOUSED AT THE GATEWAY WEST SHELTER
On Wednesday, May 13, 2026, Mayor Tim Keller unveiled plans for a new Safe Outdoor Space at the Gateway West Shelter as part of the City of Albuquerque’s initiative to address homelessness. Keller said the site for the safe outdoor space by Gateway West is already under construction. On May 18 funding was approved by the City Council in the approved F/Y 27 fiscal year budget.
The Gateway Shelter is the largest shelter in Albuquerque, whith the city claiming it serves an average of 600 people per night. The proposed Gateway Safe Outdoor Space will provide showers, electricity and a place for an estimated number of between 15 to 50 people to set up tents and to camp ostensibly for how long they want.
Mayor Tim Keller said the outdoor space is “absolutely critical” because the Gateway West is near capacity and contradicting himself when he says there are always beds available at the shelter which can accommodate up to 669 people. The city has made renovations to Gateway West in recent years in response to cleanliness and safety concerns by the unhoused who prefer living on the streets to the shelter provided by the Gateway West shelter. The proposed site comes as the unhoused population around the city grows, with almost 3,000 people reported to be living on the streets, according to the last annual Point-In-Time count, released in November.
City officials believe that, by locating the Safe Outdoor Space at Gateway West, they’ll be able to coordinate access to transportation, hygiene resources, meals, shelter referrals, treatment connections, and long-term housing support. The development of the Gateway West shelter includes finer points, such as when meals and transportation would be provided as well as services to the unhoused. The Gateway West safe outdoor space includes restrooms, shower accessibility and pad sites for tents.
It was in 2022 that Safe Outdoor Spaces as an alternative to private or city shelters were approved by the City Council allowing two for every 9 City Council Districts to house 50 people each. Albuquerque City councilors have paused, restricted or voted down proposed changes to regulate the sanctioned encampments over the years. Some councilors were for it, while others have been against it, after pushback from residential property ownwrs and city residents. Out of almost a dozen applications, only one has been approved and it is a 10-tent capacity lot outside New Creation Church along Zuni SE, east of Pennsylvania.
Mayor Keller for his part has advocated for smaller safe outdoor spaces all over the city allowing 20 or fewer people. At one time Keller even advocated for 100 smaller safe outdoor spaces scattered all over the city to accommodate 10 people each for 1,000 unhoused to camp.
Mayor Keller said this at his May 13 press conference:
“This is a network, and we know that we want to have a continuum of care that starts from help on the streets where people are at to being able to provide a multitude of services, including even transportation. That’s why ACS is here as well. … We also want to make sure that eventually that leads to housing. This is something we’ve been working on for many years, but we’re getting closer and closer to having that system. But one thing has been loud and clear as we develop an all-in approach to our options for the unhoused, and it’s that we need more safe outdoor living. … A lot of folks we offer help to say no, but we know that they would say yes if it was a safe outdoor space.”
City Spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said the location beside Gateway West was chosen “due to its existing shelter infrastructure and supportive services [and to] help create a smoother transition pathway for individuals seeking access to additional indoor shelter and support services.”
https://www.koat.com/article/homelessness-safe-outdoor-space-new-mexico/71297661
- NEW CITY DIVERSION PROGRAM INITIATIVE
On Friday, May 5, Mayor Keller announced a new Diversion Program aimed at offering services and treatment to the unhoused who are cited, and often eventually arrested, for blocking sidewalks and similar city code violations.
The proposed Fiscal Year 27 City Budget line item submitted to the City Council by Mayor Keller for the Diversion Program was originally for $400,000, but the City Council reduced the amount to $200,000 in the approved F/Y 27 budget as a compromise after the City Council demanded further specifics on the diversion program.
The new diversion initiative will be led by the City Attorney’s Office and it is designed to address the cycle of low-level, non-violent offenses that often result in brief and ineffective periods of detention without treatment or long-term resolution. Under new diversion program, eligible individuals will be assessed by a social worker or case manager at the point of prosecution and offered structured diversion options, including shelter intake, case management, substance use or mental health treatment, or other supportive services.
This approach shifts the City’s response from a system that cycles individuals through arrest and release to one that uses legal intervention as a pathway into services, while maintaining accountability for participation. By aligning enforcement with treatment and housing resources, the program is designed to reduce recidivism, decrease strain on the courts and detention system, and improve outcomes for individuals experiencing homelessness and behavioral health challenges.
Mayor Keller said that since February the Albuquerque Police Department had been testing the program and had already diverted 85 people into services of some kind. City spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said those diversions were transporting people to Gateway West, Gateway East and the Medical Sobering Center. Another city spokesperson said the $400,000 would go toward funding the courtroom aspect, providing an attorney, paralegal and social worker.
City Attorney Keefe said the city worked with Metropolitan Court, the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office (DA) and the Law Offices of the Public Defender (LOPD). She said the LOPD, would be “taking the lead on identifying the best way to get people connected with resources.”
Keefe said many details of the diversion program were still being ironed out.
The program will offer weekly open hearings at the courthouse where those cited for violating public ordinances can come in and have onsite access to city services including treatment and housing. Keller said this:
“The idea is, of course, acknowledging that at the end of the day we can’t simply just cycle vulnerable individuals through jail and back out on the street … Both of those are not the right answer and we actually developed an alternative… that a court would suggest treatment instead of the court system, but also not letting folks just walk right out back onto the street.”
All that is mentioned is “legal intervention” without addresses mandatory measures. Absent from the new City diversion program is any specific mention of civil mental health commitment hearings of the unhoused who pose an immediate danger to themselves or others or who are suffering from drug addiction.
BERNALILLO COUNTY METROPOLITAN DIVERSION COURT
It was on January 6, 2026 that the Metropolitan Court Diversion Court was launched. The new court will redirect people with serious mental illness into treatment as an alternative to criminal prosecution for minor and nonviolent crimes. The new court will deal with people who previously have had criminal charges dismissed because they were found incompetent to stand trial. The criminal competency Diversion Court is the fifth such program statewide and is the first in the state’s largest county.
During the recent Special Session of the New Mexico legislature that ended on October 2, 2025, the legislature enacted legislation which allows the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court to determine competency which previously was only allowed by the State District Court. A recent report by the New Mexico Justice Reinvestment Working Group found that 65% of individuals who enter the state’s criminal justice system have a behavioral health need and the criminal justice system cannot provide necessary medical treatment and facilities.
State lawmakers appropriated $293,000 a year for the Diversion Court which will pay for a program coordinator and two case managers, or navigators, to direct people to appropriate mental health and substance-abuse treatment and basic services such as housing. The funding also will pay for the program’s behavioral health service provider, Albuquerque-based A New Awakening.
The Diversion Court provides people who are unhoused with the opportunity to resolve pending misdemeanor cases, outstanding warrants and unpaid fines, all of which can pose barriers to housing and employment opportunities and hinder progress toward self-sufficiency. The Diversion Court will be able to do more when it comes to the homeless who suffer from severe mental illness or who are drug addicted and are a danger to themselves and others.
Candidates for the program are people charged with misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, excluding those facing drunken-driving charges. The program comes at a time when encampment sweeps around Albuquerque have increased significantly and have led to an increase in misdemeanor charges like unlawful camping and blocking the sidewalk. The program provides an alternative for a judge who otherwise would have little choice but to dismiss the charges.
In cases involving the unhoused or those with mental illness, misdemeanor citations often lead to jail stays down the line due to missed court hearings. According to a Bernalillo County jail population dashboard, just over 7,000 people were booked on misdemeanor charges in 2025. The competency diversion program is intended to guide people with severe mental illness into services that may include housing, medical needs and appropriate mental health or substance-use treatment.
At the January 6 ceremony announcing the Diversion Court, where upwards of 100 people attended, New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Briana H. Zamora shared her experiences as a trial judge where he observed a decline in the well-being of criminal defendants who returned to her courtroom time and again. Judge Zamora said this:
“At the beginning, especially here at Metro Court, they would come with their family members, their relatives, their friends. … After about 20 or 30 cases, or a few years later, they came alone. They were unhoused and they had no support. [Struggling families would ask to order treatment and services] and within the constraints of the law, I was unable to do so. … I as a judge, of course, I want to apply the law, but I also want to ensure that justice is done. And without any programs in place, without any place to refer them, my hands were tied. There was nothing I could do, and it just broke my heart to see these families and friends who were desperately trying to help out their loved ones and had no avenue to do so. …”
Bernalillo County Metro Court Judge Nina Safier is the Presiding Judge for the Diversion Court. She said the criminal competency diversion court is intended to restore services to people caught up for years in the criminal justice system. Judge Safier said this:
“By the time you end up in jail, you have fallen through many cracks. … We have to reconnect people with the services that got pulled from underneath them, because the criminal justice system and jail is not going to help. … As a competency court judge, the most common request I hear is, ‘Judge, we just want them to get help.’ And as Justice Zamora said, the answer before was, ‘That’s not the process.’ Now the process can take on a new direction. You can reconnect with the services that people suffering — our communities are watching, their families want them to get help.”
Judge Safier said a key element of the Diversion Court is trained staff who can help obtain treatment and services for people who otherwise have difficulty navigating the system. She said staff members also can bump people to the head of the line for needed services.
Bennett Baur, the chief public defender for the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender, said he is uncertain how the program will work but applauded the effort to find alternatives to prosecution for people with severe mental illness. Baur said this:
“I think it’s a really good thing for us to look at different ways to address serious behavioral health issues, rather than just depending upon prosecution, jail and prison, which clearly doesn’t work for these folks. … I’m concerned that there may not be enough appropriate treatment, but let’s give this a chance.”
The Administrative Office of the Courts has launched four competency diversion courts since mid-2024. Those courts are in the 3rd Judicial District in Las Cruces, the 4th Judicial District in Las Vegas, the 1st Judicial District in Santa Fe and the 12th Judicial District in Otero and Lincoln counties. So far, nearly 60 people statewide have already graduated from the diversion court programs.
EXTENT OF CRISIS
A recent report by the New Mexico Justice Reinvestment Working Group astonishingly found that 65% of individuals who enter the state’s criminal justice system have a behavioral health need and that the criminal justice system cannot provide necessary medical treatment and facilities. According to Kaiser Family Foundation data, New Mexico has one of the nation’s highest suicide rates, and more than one-third of state residents reported anxiety or a depressive disorder in 2023.
Adrian Avila, the chief of staff for the New Mexico Senate Finance Committee, was tasked with taking the lead on crafting the package after a special session called by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ended with the Democratic-controlled Legislature declining to take up all of the governor’s crime-focused agenda.
Avila went so far as to traveled to Miami Florida with behavioral health advocates to tour the Miami-Dade County Court diversion program that has drawn accolades for its success. Avila said the “Miami model” would not be totally feasible in New Mexico because the state’s population is not as densely concentrated.
Avila described the package that grew out of countless meetings and negotiations as a “bottom-up” approach to tackling mental health and drug abuse issues across the state.
On February 4, 2025, Avila told the Senate Finance committee this:
“We’re creating an entire ecosystem here.”
Democrat Majority Floor Leader Peter Wirth of Santa Fe and Republican Senate Minority Floor leader William Sharer of Farmington jointly sponsored Senate Bill 1 of the behavioral health legislation. On February 4, 2025, they presented their legislation together to the Senate Public Affairs Committee. Several other top Republicans and Democrats teamed up to carry the bills. Republican Senator Sharer said this of the $1 Billion funding:
“Things are getting worse, not better. … This is a huge, huge amount of money, but also a huge accountability piece. … So this is it.”
The links to the relied upon or quoted news sources are here:
https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/new-pilot-program-aims-to-break-cycle-for-nonviolent-offenders/
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/metro-court-program-offers-new-treatment-options/2955055
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/metro-court-program-aims-to-treat-mentally-ill-defendants/2952594
THE UNHOUSED NUMBERS IN ALBUQUERQUE
On November 17, 2025 the New Mexico Coalition to End Homlessness released the most recent 2025 Point-In-Time (PIT) Report for the numbers of unhoused in Albuquerque. The PIT survey found that at least 2,960 people in Albuquerque called the streets or an emergency shelter their home with nowhere else to go. Of that number,1,367 people were completely unsheltered with no roof over their heads, living on the streets or in emergency shelters. The 2025 PIT report revealed an 8% increase in homelessness going from 2,740 in 2024 to 2,960 in 2025, an increase of 220 people.
A 2025 report by the city found 30% of individuals experiencing homelessness self report having a serious mental illness, 25% self report having a substance use disorder and upwards of 66% experience some form of mental health condition. A report by the New Mexico Justice Reinvestment Working Group found that 65% of individuals who enter the state’s criminal justice system have behavioral health needs and the criminal justice system cannot provide necessary medical treatment and facilities. A major problem is that approximately 75% to 80% of the chronic, emergency unhoused simply refuse city services, yet the city spends upwards of $55 to $85 million a year on contracts to provide services and assistance to the unhoused
Over the past four years during Mayor Keller’s second term, the number of bookings in Bernalillo County’s jail classified as “homeless” or “transient” has skyrocketed to nearly 12,000 in 2025, from 3,670 in 2022, with much of the increase in numbers attributed to repeat offenders. In recent months, the share of people booked who are transient made up about 49% of the jail’s population. Last year, 1,256 people were charged with sidewalk obstruction misdemeanors which is nearly six times the number of cases from the previous eight years combined. This has occurred as the average daily population at the jail from July 2024 through June 2025 reached its highest point in a decade. On some days last year, the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center held more homeless people than the Gateway Shelter on the west side which is the largest local shelter.
The city’s homeless population has more than doubled from 2022 to 2025, while the increase in homeless people jailed by the county has more than tripled during the same time period. Police and court records and interviews with homeless people show the increase in their incarceration is primarily driven by the cascading effects of repeatedly citing people who are experiencing homelessness.
CITY’S FINANCIAL COMITMENT TO UNHOUSE
In the last three years, the city has spent upwards of $300 million on homeless shelters, programs and purchasing and remodeling motels for low-income housing. In 2021, the city acquired the Lovelace Hospital complex on Gibson for $15 million and then spent upwards of $90 million to remodel it into the Gateway shelter.
Mayor Keller’s approved FY/26 General Fund budget by the City Council for Health, Housing and Homeless Department (HHH) totals $52.6 million, an increase of $1.4 million, or 2.7% above the FY/25 original budget. The FY/26 approved budget lists 116 separate contracts for services benefiting directly or indirectly to the unhoused totals $53,901,355. The 115 separate contracts totaling $53,901,355 include:
- 32 for Affordable Housing Contracts totaling $30,391,436
- 12 for Emergency Shelter contracts totaling $ 6,347,819
- 16 for Health and Human Services Contracts totaling $ 1,962,486
- 28 for Homeless Support Services contracts totaling $ 5,746,188
- 11 for Mental Health Contracts totaling $ 2,995,400
- 12 for Substance Abuse contracts totaling $ 2,573,526
- 5 for Gateway Shelter operating contracts totaling $ 3,884,500
116 SERVICE CONTRACTS TOTAL CONTRACTS $ 53,901,355
The link to review the approved FY/26 budget for the HHH department, page 209, is here:
Click to access fy26-approved-final.pdf
Mayor Tim Keller’s proposed and approved FY/27 General Fund budget submitted to the City Council for the Health, Housing and Homeless Department is $48.9 million and it is an increase of 9.5% or $4.3 million above the FY/26 original budget with 98 full time employees. Listed in the HHH proposed FY/27 budget are 122 separate contracts for services directly or indirectly to the unhoused totaling $85,283,474. The 122 separate contracts totaling $85,283,47 include:
- 34 for Affordable Housing Contracts totaling $35,534,228
- 13 for Emergency Shelter contracts totaling $10,230,537
- 14 forHealth and Human Services Contracts totaling $ 2,418,638
- 23 for Homeless Support Services contracts totaling $ 6,091,714
- 11 for Mental Health Contracts totaling $ 3,925,400
- 12 for Substance Abuse contracts totaling $ 5,530,478
- 15 for Gateway Shelter operating contracts totaling $21,552,479
122 SERVICE CONTRACTS TOTAL CONTRACTS $85,283,471
It is understood that the City Council has never ordered an audit of all the service contracts to determine the extent of funding that goes directly to the benefit of the unhoused.
The link to review the proposed FY/27 budget for the HHH department, page 124, is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/documents/fy27-proposed-budget-with-weblink-final-4-01-2026.pdf
Links to other quoted or relied upon sources are here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/article_42aba680-62c4-4228-95a2-da72df1a34e1.html
THE GATEWAY SYSTEM OF SHELTERS
The Gateway Shelter Network consists of 5 shelters costing a staggering $300 Million dollars spent over the last 4 years to assist between 3,000 to 5,000 unhoused. The City has become New Mexico’s de facto “homeless capitol” providing shelter and services to the homeless for all communities throughout New Mexico. The problem is that the City and the State’s unhoused numbers are getting worse and not any better after spending so many millions.
The Gateway Network of support for people struggling with homelessness and drug and substance addiction consists of the following:
- Gateway Center– (Located on Gibson.) Campus providing medical, behavioral, and social services including overnight beds, first responder intake, medical sobering and respite. Old Lovelace Hospital city purchased for $15 million costing $95 million to remodel into shelter with city officials saying upwards of 1,000 unhoused per month are being provided assistance.
- Gateway West – Safe, supportive 660-bed facility for individuals experiencing homelessness, offering specialized resources and case management. (City officials say the annual impact is services to 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. (City officials say the annual impact is 987 individuals being served, Open Since 2020.)
- Gateway Recovery– 50-resident micro-community offering low-barrier beds, recovery services, and support for 18 – 24 months. City officials say the annua projected impact is 50 – 100 being served. Opening Early 2025
- Gateway Young Adult – Housing and support for young adults ages 15-25 experiencing homelessness, tailored to their unique needs. City officials say the projected impact is 120 Individuals being served. Opened March, 2026.
STATUTES AND ORDINANCES ENUMERATED
New Mexico Statutes and City Ordinances have been enacted that are relied upon to deal with unlawful camping and trespass and all are used to deal with the unhoused. All the laws have been on the books for decades and are applicable and are enforced against all citizens and not just the unhoused.
The specific statutes are:
- NMSA 1978, Section 30-14-1 (1995), defining criminal trespass on public and private property.
- NMSA 1978, Section 30-14-4 (1969), defining wrongful use of property used for a public purpose and owned by the state, its subdivisions, and any religious, charitable, educational, or recreational association.
- Albuquerque City Ordinance 12-2-3, defining criminal trespass on public and private property.
- Albuquerque City Ordinance 8-2-7-13, prohibiting the placement of items on a sidewalk so as to restrict its free use by pedestrians.
- Albuquerque City Ordinance 10-1-1-10, prohibiting being in a park at nighttime when it is closed to public use.
- Albuquerque City Ordinance 12-2-7, prohibiting hindering persons passing along any street, sidewalk, or public way.
- Albuquerque City Ordinance 5-8-6, prohibiting camping on open space lands and regional preserves.
- Albuquerque City Ordinance 10-1-1-3, prohibiting the erection of structures in city parks.
All the above listed laws are classified as “non-violent crimes” and are misdemeanors. The filing of criminal charges by law enforcement are discretionary when the crime occurs in their presence. The new “Enhanced Service and Safety Zone Ordinance” likewise is a misdemeanor and classified as “non-violent crimes.”
CIVIL RIGHTS LAWSUITE OVER ENCAMPMENTS
In 2017, a civil rights lawsuit was filed where the city was accused of causing overcrowding at the Metropolitan Detention Center by conducting routine encampment sweeps of what the Albuquerque Police Department called the “homeless mentally ill.” The lawsuit ended in a settlement which the city moved to dismiss in March. In response, the plaintiff’s attorneys argued that the city, rather than fulfilling the terms and conditions of the settlement, actually “turned back the clock” and resumed pre-settlement strategies to reduce visible homelessness.
Private attorney Ryan Villa, one of the Plaintiff attorneys in the case against the city contends the City of Albuquerque and the Albuquerque Police Department have failed to live up to a 2017 agreement to remedy unconstitutional and unlawful practices affecting those living on the streets. Villa said this: “In our view, the city is using Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) as a temporary homeless shelter.”
In a response to the Motion to Dismiss, the plaintiffs’ attorneys contend the city has “turned back the clock” and resumed the “very same tactics” that led to the agreement. Villa in a 30-page response to the city’s motion wrote this:
“The City has significantly and openly increased criminal enforcement against nonviolent misdemeanants, particularly the unhoused and those with mental illness, and begun crowding the jail via the adoption of systematic practices and formal enforcement policies at odds with the Settlement Agreement terms and purpose. ”
The City’s Motion to Dismiss is still pending.
The link to the relied upon and quoted news source is here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/attorneys-say-city-using-jail-as-homeless-shelter/3003486
US SUPREME COURT CASE GRANTS PASS V. JOHNSON
It was on June 28, 2024 the United State Supreme Court announced its ruling in the case of Grants Pass v. Johnson where the court held that local laws effectively criminalizing homelessness do not violate the U.S. Constitution and do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
The case challenged a municipality’s ability to bar people from sleeping or camping in public areas, such as sidewalks and parks. The case is strikingly similar in facts and circumstances and laws to the case filed against the City of Albuquerque over the closure of Coronado Park.
The United States Supreme Court considered whether cities can enforce laws and take action against or punish the unhoused for sleeping outside in public spaces when shelter space is lacking. The case is the most significant case heard by the high court in decades on the rights of the unhoused and comes as a rising number of people in the United States are without a permanent place to live.
In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the Supreme Court reversed a ruling by a San Francisco-based appeals court that found outdoor sleeping bans amount to “cruel and unusual punishment” under the United States Constitution. The majority found that the 8th Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment does not extend to bans on outdoor sleeping in public places such as parks and streets. The Supreme Court ruled that cities can enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outdoors, even in West Coast areas where shelter space is lacking.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The three initiatives consisting of the City Council’s enactment of the “Enhanced Service and Safety Zone Ordinance”, the new Gateway West Shelter Safe Outdoor Spaces to be offered to the unhoused and the new City Diversion Program combined offer a real potential of having a major impact of removing the unhoused from the streets of Albuquerque. However more can and must be done with respect to requiring and mandating the unhoused to get off the streets and ordering them into the mental health or drug addiction treatment they desperately need.
CIVIL MENTAL HEALTH COMMITMENTS
The city’s new diversion program involving the District Attorney, the Public Defender and the City Attorney’s Office needs to go further. It needs to include a coordinated effort amongst the 3 cooperating agencies to include initiating civil mental health commitments of the unhoused suffering from mental illness and/or drug addiction posing a serious danger to themselves or the public to be filed in the Metro Court Diversion Court.
The Albuquerque Police Department and the city’s Community Safety Department know who the “frequent flyers” are and who need to be taken immediately off the streets because they pose and immediate threat to themselves and others. Both departments could and should assist the District Attorney, the Public Defender an the City Attorney with civil mental health commitments of the unhoused and file civil mental commitment actions.
The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office and the Albuquerque City Attorney’ office should form specialized unit of at least four attorneys to deal exclusively with civil mental commitment actions in the Metropolitan Court’s new Diversion Court. The state or courts would provide funding for the mental health services provided by the state through the Behavioral Health Trust Fund and the Behavioral Health Reform Package.
The District Attorney should cross deputized Assistant City Attorney’s, supported with para legals, to initiate mental health commitment to work in unison with the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office. Such an arrangement of cross deputization of Assistant City Attorney’s has occurred in the past with the City Attorney’s Metro Court Traffic Court arraignment program that processed at one time 60,000 cases a year negotiating plea agreements.
It is understood The Gateway Shelter on Gibson, which is the former Lovelace Medical Center and Hospital, is still largely vacant and has upwards of 200 patient rooms that are vacant. The Gateway Shelter on Gibson should be utilized for referrals by the Metropolitan Court’s “Diversion Court” with the State providing mental health services to those committed for mental health and substance abuse treatment.
FINAL COMMENTS
Being unhoused or being destitute are not crimes. Government, be it federal or local, have a moral obligation to help and assist the unhoused, especially those that are mentally ill or who are drug addicted. The city under Mayor Keller has spent upwards of $300 million to help the unhoused over the last 4 years.
The City of Albuquerque is spending upwards of $53 million (approved FY/26 budget) to $85 million (proposed FY/27 budget) a year on homeless services with 116 to 122 service provider contracts including for 5 Gateway Emergency shelters, subsidized housing, food and medical care and drug counseling. However, the City Council merely rubber stamps what the Keller administration has negotiated. The City Council has never ordered an audit of all the service contracts to determine the extent of funding that goes directly to the benefit of the unhoused and to the benefit of the service providers.
Notwithstanding all the millions being spent, surveys have revealed that between 75% to 80% of the chronically unhoused refuse or decline city shelter, housing, services and financial help offered or simply say they are not satisfied with what is being offered by the city.
The unhoused are not above the law. They cannot be allowed to just ignore the law, illegally camp wherever they want for as long as they want and as they choose, when they totally reject all government housing or shelter assistance. The City has every right to enforce its laws on behalf of its citizens to preserve and protect the public health, safety and welfare of all its citizens.
Allowing the homeless to use, congregate and camp anywhere they want for as long as they want in violation of city laws and ordinances should never be considered as an option to deal with the homeless given all the financial resources and the millions being spent to assist them.
Unlawful encampment squatters who refuse city services and all alternatives to living on the street, who want to camp at city parks, on city streets in alleys and trespass in open space give the city no choice but to take action and make it totally inconvenient for them to “squat” anywhere they want, for how long as they want, and force them to move on and perhaps even arrest for felonies found.
Too many elected and government officials and civil rights advocates have a hard time dealing with the fact that many homeless adults simply want to live out their life as they choose, camp where they want to for as long as they can get away with it, without any government nor family interference and especially no government rules and no regulations.
No county and no municipality should ever be required to just simply ignore and to not enforce anti-camping ordinances, vagrancy laws, civil nuisance abatement laws and criminal laws designed to protect the general public’s health, safety and welfare of a community.
The link to a related to related, relied upon, quoted news sources are here:
https://www.propublica.org/article/albuquerque-homelessness-citations-surge-tim-keller
https://www.college.police.uk/app/operations/operational-planning/tactical-planning