Since being sworn into office as Mayor on December 1, 2017, Tim Keller has made dealing with the city’s homeless as a major priority. To that end, Keller has proclaimed an “all the above approach” to deal with the homeless. Keller says he is willing to consider any ideas to reduce the number of homeless. Keller has implemented the following policies:
- Increased funding to the Family Community Services Department for assistance to the homeless with $40 million allocated in fiscal year 2021 and $60 million allocated in fiscal 2022 and adopting a “housing first” policy.
- Advocated for 24/7 homeless shelters including converting the old Westside Jail into a 24/7 homeless shelter and purchasing the Gibson Medical Center for $15 million to convert it into a 24/7 homeless shelter which will serve upwards of 1,000 homeless per day once it’s up and running.
- Advocating and supporting Safe Outdoor Spaces (SOS) which are city sanctioned homeless encampments with 40 designated spaces for tents that will allow upwards of 50 people, require hand washing stations, toilets and showers, require a management plan, 6 foot fencing and social services offered. Keller set aside $950,000 for the encampments in his 2022 fiscal year budget. Under the Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO), 18 SOS encampments are allowed, 2 in each council district. Keller vetoed a one-year moratorium on SOS encampments which was upheld by the city council. A total repeal of SOS encampments is pending before the city council.
- Adopted a “no arrest” policy of the homeless for violations of the city’s camping, trespassing and vagrancy laws with an emphasis on citations.
- Allowed Coronado Park for 5 years to become a “de facto” city sanctioned homeless encampment, which he closed down in August without any plan for dealing with the 75 to 125 homeless that were displaced.
Throughout all of his efforts, Keller has never outlined the actual number or homeless the city has been dealing with over the past 5 years. Private homeless providers, many who have contracts with the city to provide services to the homeless, consistently claim the city has upwards of 4,500 to 5,000 homeless at any given time. The 4,500 to 5,000 figure is likely inflated and is not supported by the yearly federal government sponsored survey known as the “Point in Time Survey”.
“POINT IN TIME” SURVEY
Each year the “Point in Time” survey is conducted to determine how many people experience homelessness on a given night in Albuquerque, and to learn more about their specific needs. The PIT count is done in communities across the country. The New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness (NMCEH) is contracted by the city to do the survey. NMCEH released the 2022 PIT report breaking down the demographics of the homeless population in Albuquerque.
This blog article reports on the city of Albuquerque 2022 PIT report statistics citing and editing portions of the report and excludes New Mexico’s and national numbers. The PIT report is 40 pages long and includes graphs and pie charts outlining the statistics reported. You can review the entire report at this link:
https://www.nmceh.org/_files/ugd/6737c5_4ecb9ab7114a45dcb25f648c6e0b0a30.pdf
“POINT IN TIME” SURVEY EXPLAINED
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.
The PIT count requires the use of the HUD definition of “homelessness”. PIT counts only people who are sleeping in a shelter, in a transitional housing program, or outside in places not meant for human habitation. Those people who are not counted are those who do not want to participate in the survey, who are sleeping in motels that they pay for themselves, or who are doubled up with family or friends
The PIT count includes a “Sheltered Count”, “Unsheltered Count” and a “Transitional Housing Count.”
The Sheltered Count is the count of people experiencing homelessness who are sheltered in emergency shelter and transitional housing on a single night. Sheltered homeless also include homeless “residing in an emergency a motel paid through a provider or in a transitional housing program.” It does not include people who are doubled up with family or friends.
The Unsheltered are defined as those who encamp in neighborhood open space areas, alleys, parks, high-traffic areas and points of congregation, meal service sites, and general service sites. The Unsheltered Count uses surveys and street outreach to account for individuals and families experiencing unsheltered homelessness on the night of the count.
The Housing Inventory Count (HIC) is an inventory of provider programs within a Continuum of Care that provide total numbers of beds and units dedicated to serving people experiencing homelessness. There are 5 homeless Program Types:
Emergency Shelter
Transitional Housing;
Rapid Re-housing;
Safe Haven
Permanent Supportive Housing.
EVEN – ODD NUMBER OF YEAR SURVEYS
In even numbered years, only sheltered homeless are surveyed. In odd numbered years, both sheltered and unsheltered homeless are surveyed. Only those homeless people who can be located and who agree to participate in the survey are counted.
The PIT count is viewed as a single night snapshot of the homeless. The City of Albuquerque contracts with The New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness to conduct its annual “Point in Time” (PIT) survey.
Taken together, the Sheltered, Unsheltered, and Housing Inventory counts provide a complete picture of the homelessness response system, with the sheltered and unsheltered counts illustrating the need for services and the HIC illustrating the capacity for providing those services.
2022 POINT IN TIME SURVEY RESULTS
The date selected for the 2022 year’s PIT count was Monday, January 31st. From February 1st to 4th, The New Mexico Council to End NMCEH) coordinated activities to tally the PIT count. Unsheltered count data was collected from people experiencing unsheltered homelessness by street outreach teams making personal contact with the homeless and completing surveys. The “outreach teams” canvassed neighborhoods, alleys, parks, high-traffic areas, known encampments and points of congregation, meal service sites, and general service sites to engage and survey people who identified as being homeless on the night of January 31st.
The SHELTERED COUNT represents all people residing in Emergency Shelters (ES) and Transitional Housing (TH) projects.
(2022 PIT Report, page 4)
The HOUSING INVENTORY COUNT reports each project’s current service capacity in terms of bed and unit inventory and the total number of people enrolled in Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) and Rapid ReHousing (RRH) on the night of the count.
(2022 PIT Report, page 4)
2009 – 2022 PIT ESTIMATED NUMBER OF HOMELESS
In even numbered years, only sheltered homeless are surveyed for the PIT survey. In odd numbered years, both sheltered and unsheltered homeless are surveyed. The 2022 PIT report provides the odd number years of shelter and unsheltered homeless in Albuquerque for 8 years from 2009 to 2019 and including 2022:
2009: 2,002
2011: 1,639
2013: 1,171
2015: 1,287
2017: 1,318
2019: 1,524
2021: 1,567
2022: 1,311
The 2022 PIT data breakdown for the unsheltered for the years 2009 to 2022 is as follows:
Chronic homeless: 67% (homeless 6 months to a year or more)
Veterans: 9%
First-time homeless: 38%
Homeless due to domestic violence: 16%
Adults with a serious mental illness: 46%
Adults with substance use disorder: 44%
(2022 PIT Report, page 7)
HOMELESS HOUSHOLDS IN EMERGENCY SHELTERS, TRANSITIONAL AND UNSHELTERED ON JANUARY 31, 2022
The total estimated number of households experiencing homelessness in Albuquerque on January 31, 2022 was broken down into households with one child, without children and with only children in Emergency Shelters, Transitional and Unsheltered.
The total number of households in emergency shelters, transitional housing unsheltered housing on January 31, 2022 was reported as 860.
(2022 PIT Report Chart, page 6)
INDIVIDUALS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS IN EMERGENCY SHELTERS, TRANSITIONAL AND UNSHELTERED ON JANUARY 31, 2022
The total estimated number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Albuquerque on January 31, 2022 was broken down into individuals with one child, without children and with only children in Emergency Shelters, Transitional and Unsheltered.
The total number of individuals in emergency shelters, transitional housing unsheltered housing was reported as 1,311.
(2022 PIT Report Chart, page 6)
TOTALS OF SHELTERED, TRANSITIONAL HOUSING, UNSHELTERED HOMELESS ON JANUARY 31, 2022
The breakdown of homelessness on January 31, 2022 is as follows:
Emergency sheltered: 940
Unsheltered: 197
Transitional housing: 174
COMBINED TOTAL OF HOMELESS: 1,311
DATA BREAK DOWN FOR A CATEGORIES OF UNSHELTERED, EMERGENCY SHELTERED AND TRANSITIONAL HOUSING
The data breakdown for the categories of unsheltered, emergency sheltered, and transitional housing on January 31, 2022is as follows:
I. UNSHELTERED DATA BREAK DOWN
The Unsheltered are defined as those who encamp in neighborhood open space areas, alleys, parks, high-traffic areas and points of congregation, meal service sites, and general service sites.
A. GENDER OF INDIVIDUALS UNSHELTERED HOMELESS
The unsheltered homeless January 31, 2022 who responded to the question of GENDER identified their gender as follows:
120 identified themselves as male
56 identified themselves as female
2 refused to identify
1 identified as other than singularly female or male
1 identified as transgender
(2022 PIT Report, page 7)
B. AGE OF INDIVIDUALS UNSHELTERED HOMELESS
The unsheltered individual homeless on January 31, 2022who responded to the question of their AGE stated their age as follow:
Under 19: 4
20-29: 22
40-49: 66
50-59: 48
60-69: 12
70-79: 6
80-89: 1
Refused to say: 29
(2022 PIT Report, page 8)
C. ETHNICITY OF UNSHELTERED INDIVIDUAL HOMELESS
The unsheltered individual homeless who responded on January 31, 2022 to the question of ETHNICITY stated their ethnicity as follows:
Non-Hispanic: 138
Hispanic/Latin: 105
Data NOT collected: 12
Refused to respond: 9
(2022 PIT Report, page 9)
D. RACE OF UNSHELTER INDIVIDUAL HOMELESS
The individual unsheltered homeless on January 31, 2022 who responded to the question of RACE stated their race to be as follows:
White: 115
American Indian or Alaska Native: 58
Black of African American: 26
Multicultural: 8
Data Not collected: 4
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: 3
Refused to respond: 50
(2022 PIT Report, page 9)
REASONS UNSHELTER HOMELESS GAVE FOR NOT USINGS SHELTERS
Unsheltered homeless respondents were asked “Why do you not use the shelter system?” Following are the most common reasons given with the numbers that responded:
- “I’m blind and need everyday assistance” (1)
- “Work” (4)
- “I don’t like to be separated from my partner” (4)
- “I’ve never tried” (5)
- “I got kicked out of shelters” (5)
- “It’s my choice/I don’t need it” (6)
- “Pets aren’t allowed” (6)
- “Anxiety around crowds” (9)
- “PTSD from being incarcerated” (9)
- “Transportation” (20)
- “Overcrowded” (21)
- “Unsanitary/fear of getting COVID” (22)
- “Staff Concerns” (23)
(2022 PIT Report, page 11)
II. EMERGENCY SHELTERED HOMELESS DATA BREAKDOWN
Estimated number of people living in an unsheltered living condition in Albuquerque during the PIT Counts 2009-2022.
2009: 931
2011: 387
2013: 144
2015: 183
2017: 384
2019: 567
2021: 413
2022: 197
Following is the data breakdown reflecting the number and categories of homeless in emergency shelters in Albuquerque on during the PIT Counts 2009-2022.
Identified as chronically homeless: 341 (36%)
Identified as households without children: 491 (80%)
Identified as veterans: 43 (4%)
Identified as adults with a serious mental illness: 236 (25%)
Adults with substance use disorder: 127 (13%)
Adult survivors of domestic violence: 58 (6%)
(2022 PIT Report, pages 6 and 12)
EMERGENCY SHELTER DATA BREAKDOWN FOR JANUARY 31, 2022
The total emergency shelter reported for January 31, 2020 is 940.
A. GENDER OF EMERGENCY SHELTERED HOMELESS
The emergency sheltered homeless who responded to the question of GENDER on January 31, 2022 identified their gender as follows:
565 identified themselves as male
371 identified themselves as female: 371
1 identified as “Non-Binary”
3 identified as transgender
(2022 PIT Report, page 12)
B. AGE OF EMERGENCY SHELTERED HOMELESS
The emergency shelter homeless during the PIT Count on January 31, 2022 who responded to the question of their AGE stated their age as follow:
Under 19: 191
18-24: 45
24+: 704
(2022 PIT Report, page 12)
C. ETHNICITY OF SHELTERED HOMELESS
The emergency shelter homeless on January 31, 2022 who responded to the question of ETHNICITY stated their ethnicity as follows:
Non-Hispanic: 518
Hispanic: 422
(2022 PIT Report, page 13)
D. RACE OF SHELTERED HOMELESS
The emergency sheltered homeless on January 31, 2022 who responded to the question of RACE stated their race to be as follows:
White: 607
American Indian or Alaska Native: 138
Black of African American: 86
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 19
Asian or Asian American: 4
(2022 PIT Report, page 13.)
III. TRANSITIONAL HOUSING HOMELESS DATA BREAKDOWN
There were a total of 174 individuals in transitional housing on January 31, 2022
Following is the data breakdown from transitional housing programs data breakdown on January 31, 2022:
53 identified as households without children
18 identified as veterans
15 identified as adults with a serious mental illness
8 identified as adults with a substance use disorder
10 identified as adult survivors of domestic violence
(2022 PIT Report, page 13.)
A. GENDER OF TRANSITIONAL HOUSING HOMELESS
Transitional housing homeless on January 31, 2022 who responded to the question of GENDER identified their gender as follows:
70 identified themselves as male
82 identified themselves as female
21 identified as Non-Binary
1 identified as transgender
(2022 PIT Report, page 14)
B. AGE OF TRANSITIONAL HOUSING HOMELESS
Albuquerque transitional housing homeless on January 31, 2022 who responded to the question of their AGE stated their age as follow:
Under 18: 75
18-24: 32
24+: 67
(2022 PIT Report, page 14 )
C. ETHNICITY TRANSITIONAL HOUSING HOMELESS
Albuquerque transitional housing homeless on January 31, 2022 who responded to the question of ETHNICITY stated their ethnicity to be as follows:
Non-Hispanic: 60
Hispanic: 114
(2022 PIT Report, page 15)
D. RACE OF TRANSITIONAL HOUSING HOMELESS
The transitional housing homeless on January 31, 2022 who responded to the question of RACE stated their race to be as follows:
White: 117
American Indian or Alaska Native: 11
Black of African American: 12
Multiple races: 33
Asian or Asian American: 1
(2022 PIT Report, page 15 )
2021 POINT-IN-TIME (PIT) REPORT
On June 22, 2021, Albuquerque’s 2021 Point-In-Time (PIT) report was released that surveyed both sheltered and unsheltered homeless. In 2021, the PIT survey asked where people stayed the night of January 25.
Major highlights of the 2021 PIT report are as follows:
There were 1,567 sheltered and unsheltered homeless people living in Albuquerque, a slight increase over the 2019 count of 1,524 homeless. The 2020 homeless count is 2.8% higher than in 2019 and 18.9% more than in 2017, despite the pandemic limiting the 2021 counting efforts.
The 2021 PIT count found that 73.6% of the homeless population was staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing or using motel vouchers rather than sleeping in alleys, parks and other “unsheltered” locations. The 73.6% in the 2021 count is much a higher than the 2019 and 2017 PIT counts.
Albuquerque’s unsheltered homeless decreased from 567 people in 2019 to 413 in the 2021 count.
42% of Albuquerque’s unsheltered were defined as chronically homeless, meaning they had been continuously homeless for at least a year and had a disabling condition.
21% said they were homeless due to COVID.
37% were experiencing homelessness for the first time.
12% were homeless due to domestic violence.
30.19% of the homeless in Albuquerque self-reported as having a serious mental illness.
25.5% self-reported as substance abusers.
Note that a whopping 55.69% combined total of those surveyed self-reported as having a serious mental illness or were substance abusers.
The link to quoted statistics is here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/2402560/homeless-numbers-see-little-change.html
https://www.cabq.gov/family/documents/2019-albuquerque-pit-count-final.pdf
2019 AND 2017 POINT-IN-TIME COUNT
According to the 2019 Point-In-Time count, there were 1,524 sheltered and unsheltered homeless people counted in Albuquerque. This is 206 more homeless than the 2017 PIT count that recorded 1,318 homeless people in the city limits.
The 2017 survey found that there were 1,318 people reported experiencing homelessness on the night of the count, which then was an increase of 31 people over the 2015 PIT Count. The 2015 survey count found 1, 287 people reported experiencing homelessness on the night of the count.
For 2017, 379 people self-reported as chronically homeless, which was an increase of 119 people over the 2015 PIT Count. PIT counted 39 more people who self-reported as chronically homeless who were sheltered and 80 more people that self-report as chronically homeless who were unsheltered in 2017. The 2019 PIT report states that most people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Albuquerque were residents of Albuquerque before becoming homeless.
The link to quoted statistics is here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/1355819/annual-count-shows-citys-homeless-numbers-up.html
CITY DOWNPLAYS 2022 PIT COUNT
Tony Watkins, the New Mexico Council to End Homelessness, director for homeless assistance, downplayed the 256 fewer homeless found by the PIT survey saying the cold temperatures on January 31 were a factor in this year’s count. The Albuquerque Department of Family and Community Services, which partners with the coalition on homeless issues, went even further to downplay the report and said in a statement:
“We always appreciate new data from the Point-In-Time count, but we know that it’s an undercount. We need to base our services and solutions on the situation today, not yesterday, or six months ago when the count was taken.”
The link to the quoted news source is here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/2534188/albuquerque-homeless-count-declines.html
CITY’S FINANCIAL COMMITMENT TO THE HOMELSS CRISIS
The Keller Administration has adopted a housing first policy when it comes to dealing with the homeless crisis which also includes funding provided to at least 10 service providers.
During the 2021 fiscal year that ended June 10, 2021, the Family and Community Services Department and the Keller Administration spent upwards of $40 Million to benefit the homeless or near homeless. The 2021 adopted city budget for Family and Community Services Department provides for mental health contracts totaling $4,329,452, and substance abuse contracts for counseling contracts totaling $2,586,302 and emergency shelter contracts totaling $5,688,094, affordable housing and community contracts totaling $22,531,752, homeless support services contracts.
Mayor Keller’s 2022-2023 approved budget that began on July 1, 2023, significantly increased the Family and Community Services budget by $24,353,064 to assist the homeless or near homeless by going from $35,145,851 to $59,498,915. A breakdown of the amounts to help the homeless and those in need of housing assistance contained in the 2022-2023 budget is as follows:
$3,773,860 total for mental health contracts
$2,818,356 total substance abuse contracts for counseling, up by $288,680 from last year.
$42,598,361 total for affordable housing and community contracts with a major emphasis on permanent housing for chronically homeless.
$6,025,544 total for emergency shelter contracts
$4,282,794 total homeless support services, up $658,581 from last year.
The links to the adopted 2021-2022 and 2022-23 approved budgets are here:
https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/documents/fy22-approved-budget-numbered-w-hyperlinks-final.pdf
https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/documents/fy23-proposed-final-web-version.pdf
GIBSON GATEWAY HOMELESS SHELTER
On April 6, 2021, Mayor Tim Keller announced the city had bought the massive 572,000 square-foot Gibson Medical Center, formerly the Lovelace Hospital for $15 million. The massive facility is being transformed into a Gateway Center Homeless Shelter. On September 3, 2022, it was reported that the Gibson Gateway Homeless Shelter will open sometime in the Winter of 2022 and that the shelter will assist 1,000 homeless a day and the shelter will be 330 bed homeless shelter.
The first phase of the facility when opened will feature 50 emergency shelter beds exclusively for women. It also includes 20 beds for medical respite, which will provide people without other options, a place to recuperate from illness or injury. It also includes 20 beds for medically supervised sobering. The shelter services will concentrate on serving people picked up by APD police, or other first responders, but who do not belong in the emergency room or jail. That includes those who are intoxicated, dealing with mental illness or “down and outs” as they are commonly described by first responders. The city estimates 1,500 people could go through the drop-off each year. The “dropoff for the down and outs” will initially have 4 beds.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
It should come as absolutely no surprise, and it’s downright pathetic, that the City’s Family and Community Services Department and the service providers go out of their way to disparage the results of the PIT report by dismissing it as an “undercount”. The likely reason for downplaying the survey results is that millions of dollars are at stake for the department and the service providers. Thier dismissive attitude is a reluctance to be questioned or challenged and be held accountable for how much money is being spent and the results they are achieving. What cannot be refuted are the PIT survey statistics over the last 5 years are very consistent and do not support the contention that the City’s homeless count is anywhere near what they are claiming.
The 2022 point in time survey when compared to the surveys taken 2021, 2019 and 2017 is by far the better of the surveys given the depth of information provided when comes to individual and households of homeless, gender, age and ethnicity who are sheltered, in transitional housing, or who are unsheltered. The surveys taken together provide an in-depth analysis of the city’s homeless crisis.
A major and surprising takeaway of the past 4 surveys is the actual number of the city’s homeless has hovered between 1,311 to 1,567 over the last 5 years as follows:
2017: 1,318
2019: 1,524
2021: 1,567
2022: 1,311
The 1,311 figures in the 2022 PIT report is the lowest number of unsheltered reported for the last 5 years. According to the 2022 PIT report there were 256 fewer homeless in January 2022 than in January 22. This is very surprising given the public perception that the homeless crisis has only gotten worse in the city under Mayor Tim Keller.
It is not a crime to be homeless. The city does have a moral obligation to help the homeless, especially the mentally ill and the drug addicted, and it is doing so with the huge financial commitment that is being made with services and shelter. Even though as a community there is a moral obligation to help the homeless, that does not give the homeless the right to trespass, camp and break vagrancy laws whenever they want and wherever they want.
The biggest and likely reason for the perception in the increase of the homeless is that the homeless have become far more visible to the public and far more aggressive where they illegally camp in parks, on streets, in alleyways and in city open space areas. Mayor Tim Keller bears most of the responsibility for the homeless crisis becoming far more visible in that over the last 4 years the city and the Albuquerque Police Department under Keller’s orders did not enforce the city’s trespassing, vagrancy and nuisance abatement laws when it comes to the homeless. Keller essentially took a hands-off approach to deal with the homeless when it came to enforcing the city’s ordinances and laws as they relate to the homeless.
HOMELESS ARE MORE VISIBLE BECAUSE OF NO ARREST POLICY
In 2017 the city entered into a stipulated settlement agreement in the McClendon federal case where the city agreed that people accused of nonviolent misdemeanors such as shoplifting, petty larceny and prostitution will not be arrested where there are no circumstances requiring an arrest. The primary reason for the settlement was to prevent jail overcrowding. It had nothing to do with the homeless.
When it comes to “homeless crimes”, such as illegal camping, criminal trespassing and loitering, Mayor Keller took the APD “no arrest” policy a major step further which was ill advised. Keller and APD adopted a policy that arrest was very last resort to deal with the homeless and citations would be the strict policy.
At one point, police discretion to make arrests of homeless was taken away from APD. The Family Community Service Department was given authority over APD to decide what homeless would be arrested and when, relegating APD to the role of public safety officers. APD was allowed to make arrests of the homeless when the circumstances warranted such as the commission of felony. The policy giving the Family Community Service Department authority over APD policy was later withdrawn.
CORONADO PARK
The mayor’s policies dealing with the homeless changed when Keller was essentially forced to close Coronado Park and displacing upwards of 125 homeless. Mayor Tim Keller created a nuisance with the city property when he allowed and condoned the use of Coronado Park as a “de facto” city sanction homeless encampment.
Coronado Park had an extensive history of criminal activity including 4 murders, violent crimes and drug trafficking. Keller himself was forced to announce the closure of Coronado Park on June 27 as a result of the extensive criminal activity and the contamination of the grounds of the park that made it a threat to public safety and use.
SAFE OUTDOOR SPACES TOOL NOT NEEDED
Repeatedly, Mayor Tim Keller and his administration have said that Safe Outdoor Spaces are a “tool in the toolbox” that is needed in his “all above approach” to deal with the homeless. That is simply false, and tools such as Safe Outdoor Spaces need to be thrown out of the toolbox when it comes to the homeless crisis. The only “real tools” here are our government and elected officials who are being used to promote an unsustainable policy of Safe Outdoor Spaces. Ostensibly, they do not know that government sanctioned encampments are in fact being abandoned by major cities and have been found to be a very bad substitute for permanent housing and services which have the most impact on reducing the homeless crisis.
Cities such as Honolulu, Salt Lake City and Seattle, have abandoned their support of government sanctioned encampment such as Safe Outdoor Spaces and have begun implementing ordinances to remove all encampments to move toward a transitional housing or campus model, programs that have been found to bring physical and fiscal safety to communities while reducing crime. Some 65 cities across the United States have implemented ordinances to remove all encampments.
The millions being spent each year by the city to deal with the homeless with the “housing first” policy and new Gibson Gateway Homeless Shelter and the Westside Homeless shelter should be more than enough to deal with housing the homeless, yet Mayor wants more from the public in the form of Safe Outdoor Spaces. Then there is that matter that Safe Outdoor Space encampments violate the city’s and Keller’s own “housing first” policy by not providing a form of permanent housing and with reliance on tents as temporary housing.
Safe Outdoor Spaces are not the answer to the homeless crisis. “Safe Outdoor Spaces” will be a disaster for the city as a whole. They will destroy neighborhoods, make the city a magnet for the homeless and destroy the city’s efforts to manage the homeless through housing. The homeless crisis will not be solved by the city, but it can and must be managed. Safe Outdoor Spaces represent a very temporary place to pitch a tent, relieve oneself, bathe and sleep at night with rules that will not likely be followed.
The answer to the homeless crisis is to provide the homeless the support services, including food and permanent lodging, and mental health care needed to allow the homeless to turn their lives around and perhaps become productive self-sufficient citizens.
The millions being spent each year by the city to deal with the homeless with the “housing first” policy and new Gibson Gateway Homeless Shelter and the Westside Homeless shelter should be more than enough to deal with housing the homeless. Then there is that matter that Safe Outdoor Space encampments violate the city’s and Keller’s own “housing first” policy by not providing a form of permanent housing and with reliance on tents as temporary housing.
Safe Outdoor Spaces are not the answer to the homeless crisis. “Safe Outdoor Spaces” will be a disaster for the city as a whole. They will destroy neighborhoods, make the city a magnet for the homeless and destroy the city’s efforts to manage the homeless through housing. The homeless crisis will not be solved by the city, but it can and must be managed. Safe Outdoor Spaces represent a very temporary place to pitch a tent, relieve oneself, bathe and sleep at night with rules that will not likely be followed.
RESET OPPORTUNITY
Mayor Tim Keller should consider the 2022 PIT report as a reset opportunity. The report found that the total individual unsheltered is 197 homeless which should be manageable by law enforcement. It is likely these are those who refuse to accept any kind of assistance and want to be left alone. Given the upwards of $100 million being spent over two years and the opening of the Gibson Homeless Shelter, Keller has no excuse in dealing with the 197 unsheltered.
Unlawful encampment homeless squatters who have no interest in any offers of shelter, beds, motel vouchers from the city or alternatives to living on the street and want to camp at city parks, on city streets in alleys and trespass in open space give the city no choice but to make it totally inconvenient for them to “squat” and force them to move on or be arrested by APD.