“Are you sleeping outside tonight?”
As resident Eric Radack traverses several blocks surrounding downtown Santa Fe, this is one of the first questions he asks when encountering homeless bystanders.
Bundled for the cold in an orange puffer jacket and a blue knit hat, Radack seeks out as many homeless people as he can when winter arrives, carrying a backpack full of goods to distribute: emergency space blankets, protein bars, dog food and Ziploc bags containing naloxone nasal spray. When he runs out, he turns to local convenience stores for snacks, blankets and hoodies to give out to anyone else he sees in need.
“The little that I do is a Band-Aid,” Radack tells SFR. “If it gets someone through the night, that’s awesome.”
Radack, who describes himself as a local public safety advocate, says he began regularly distributing food and blankets in the winter of 2023 because he often sees unhoused people in his neighborhood, and he can’t look away.
“There’s an unmet need, and I guess I would say the death rate during [extreme weather] is a part of the story,” Radack says. “The people who are who have frostbite, cold injuries…one person with profound hypothermia, to save that person’s life, to rewarm them and manage their care, is thousands of dollars in the [emergency room]...to do the prevention, to do the outreach, is a fraction of that cost…I’m trying to, in some very small way, alleviate human suffering. I don’t consider what I do exceptional.”
Radack especially ramps up distribution when temperatures are below freezing, and he’s not alone in seeing that need. The New Mexico Department of Health reports that as of Jan. 14, there have been 362 statewide cold-related emergency room visits since Oct. 1. In the Northeast region of the state, which includes Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Rio Arriba and Taos counties, among others nearby, 59 people have been admitted in that time frame. Six were reported in the last seven days.
Mo Charnot
From Jan. 7 through Jan. 9, and again from Jan. 13 through 14 and Jan. 18 through 22, the City of Santa Fe activated its Code Blue protocols, in which the city police department, fire department (and its Alternative Response Unit) and park rangers patrol the streets and distribute food and cold weather supply kits in addition to offering free transportation to any homeless person they can find.
The public entities coordinate with local shelters to bring as many people inside as possible, in addition to temporary overflow shelters put together through faith-based organizations.
However, Code Blue only activates under specific circumstances in Santa Fe: when temperatures dip below 15 degrees Fahrenheit, and when there is 6 or more inches of snow on the ground, according to City Emergency Management Director Brian Williams.
Williams tells SFR he and one of his colleagues “spent quite a bit of time” researching to determine what temperature level would activate Code Blue.
“If you set the threshold temperature too high, you’re in Code Blue all the time. We looked at a whole bunch of other cities, and that seemed to be, I guess you could call it the benchmark,” Williams explains. “We only have limited resources. Theoretically, it’d be nice if we could do Code Blue every night, all winter.”
According to Santa Fe Assistant Fire Chief Sten Johnson, the department’s Mobile Integrated Health Unit (which includes the Alternative Response Unit team) is made up of four paramedic EMS captains overseen by a medical officer, along with six licensed social workers who serve as case managers, and two more supervisors of the case managers. When the ARU responds to a call, they typically take along a team of three: an EMS provider, a case manager and a police officer.
Williams notes that among those working for the city — for example, the Mobile Integrated Health Unit — take on extended working hours into the night after working full day shifts to cover Code Blue protocol needs.
“We’re all a whole bunch of people who spend virtually every waking hour trying to figure out how to solve this very complex problem, and in the meantime, as well, just trying to help these often very vulnerable people,” Williams says. “We don’t want to see anybody freezing to death…Our people put in a heck of a lot of effort to try to prevent that.”
Between Jan. 7 and 9, the city kept track of the results of the additional outreach. According to a press release from the city, the Santa Fe Fire Department and park rangers distributed 212 cold weather kits; several shelters in the area (such as Pete’s Place and the Red Cross/ILA shelters) took in more than 300 people; and Code Blue responders served more than 2,000 meals.
“We do coordinate with the city for those people who aren’t eligible for our services or just don’t want to come into Pete’s,” Korina Lopez, executive director of the Interfaith Community Shelter at Pete’s Place, tells SFR.
Lopez says over the past few weeks, Pete’s Place has been averaging 85 people per night, and the shelter has “not even gotten close” to the building’s capacity required by the Fire Marshall, which she says is near 137 people.
During the past weekend, she said the shelter had received between 7 and 10 people who are either ineligible for the shelter or chose not to stay there, and Pete’s Place coordinated with the city to send them to the Salvation Army for overflow shelter.
Adam Ferguson
According to an email from the city on Jan. 18, the Salvation Army has set up an additional 35 beds at its shelter on Alameda St., and the facility will also be providing a daytime warming shelter between 8 am and 4 pm, which will include meals and other services as needed. Lopez says Pete’s Place is still open for more intake, and the shelter will also provide day services. Park rangers will be patrolling in the daytime to reach out to anyone they can find who is in need of shelter.
“It is first come, first serve…but typically people can just show up, and even our intake is super brief,” Lopez says. “We’re a minimal-barrier shelter, so we just ask a couple of more demographic types of questions, and that’s pretty much the extent of it.”
Recently, Lopez says, a few churches in the area have opened their congregations to unhoused people as emergency overflow shelters during Code Blue nights, and shelters like Pete’s Place will serve them dinner and store their belongings for them overnight. According to a city press release, the Red Cross and the Zia Methodist and Unitarian Universalist churches kept 39 more individuals out of the cold with an emergency overflow shelter between Jan. 7 and 9.
“The city is working really hard to try to get more sheltering capacity,” Williams says. “It’s a huge challenge for all of us—the shelter providers, for [emergency management], for the police department, as we want to provide warm space for everybody.”
But because temperatures exceeded 15 degrees on Jan. 10 and 15, the city temporarily deactivated Code Blue. Between the hours of 6 and 8 pm on Jan. 10, temperatures hovered around 25 degrees Fahrenheit, but wind chills dipped to 10 degrees.
Adam Ferguson
One homeless man standing on East De Vargas Street that night said he would be sleeping outside because all the shelters he tried were full, and more than 10 unhoused people huddled together for warmth at the stairs beneath DeVargas Skate Park. From the skate park to the Plaza in just two hours, Radack and SFR encountered more than 20 people who said they would be sleeping outside.
One 73-year-old woman who said she would prefer to remain anonymous sat in the doorway of Graciela Santa Fe, a local textile business across the street from La Fonda on the Plaza hotel, bundled in a shawl and holding onto two large tote bags.
She tells SFR on the previous night, she was so cold she had to spend the night in the emergency room. On the night of Jan. 10, when Code Blue had already been deactivated, Radack gave her snacks from the Five & Dime General Store then offered to call the Alternative Response Unit to help her get to a hospital if she wanted. However, the ARU wasn’t active that night, so she opted for a police escort to the nearest hospital.
“There are deaths and there are cold injuries, lost limbs. Cold can do terrible things to the human body, especially for people who have compromised circulation or respiratory vascular conditions,” Radack says. “I guess the point is, we can all do better.”
Anyone looking for fixed-location resources can reach the Interfaith Community Shelter at Pete’s Place, located at 2801 Cerrillos Rd or the Salvation Army at 525 W Alameda St. Other organizations providing additional outreach and resources during Code Blue Activation include the Life Link, the Southwest Care Center and the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness.
What Code Blue Means
When Code Blue is activated, the City of Santa Fe and its community partners increase efforts to protect individuals who are unhoused or otherwise vulnerable to cold-weather risks. These efforts include:
Proactive Outreach
Outreach teams search for individuals who may need shelter, provide transportation to existing shelters, and distribute warming kits to those who decline shelter.
Expanded Public Spaces
Libraries, recreation centers, and transit services serve as warming centers, offering people a safe, heated place to stay.
Available Resources
Shelters
Pete’s Place (Interfaith Community Shelter)
Adress: 2801 Cerrillos Road
Capacity: 125+ beds
Services: Open for day services and overnight shelter; meals provided.
Salvation Army (Temporary Shelter)
Address: 525 West Alameda Street
Capacity: 35 beds
Dates remaining: Jan. 22, 23
Overflow Shelters
The City of Santa Fe establishes additional overflow shelters for those who cannot or do not wish to access existing shelters.
Warming Centers
Santa Fe Public Libraries (Open 10:00 a.m. –
8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 1/21, Wednesday, 1/22, and Thursday, 1/23)
Main Library: 145 Washington Ave • 505-955-6781
Southside Branch: 6599 Jaguar Dr • 505-955-2820
La Farge Branch: 1730 Llano St • 505-955-4860
Salvation Army
Address: 525 W Alameda St • 505-988-8054
Hours: Tuesday – Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
When to Call 911
If you suspect someone is in immediate medical distress, call 911 right away.
For non-emergency assistance or to refer someone for services, call the non-emergency dispatch line at 505-428-3710 or 211 to connect with local programs.
