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Santa Fe took one step closer to launching a new project to help shelter those struggling to find a safe place to sleep with the City Council’s approval of a resolution Wednesday night.
The “safe sleeping spaces” resolution, sponsored by Councilors Jamie Cassutt, Renee Villarreal and Mayor Alan Webber, directs Community Health and Safety Department staff to start the process of securing space and services for designated homeless shelter areas for up to 25 temporary individual cabin units. The next step, staff told councilors, calls for bids from religious-based or charitable organizations to identify appropriate land, work with possible neighborhoods and do outreach. In addition to paying for the services, the city also expects to use $1 million from American Rescue Plan funds to purchase climate rated pop-up shelters and make other site prep.
Council members peppered staff with questions about logistics and cost, yet all but one—Councilor Chris Rivera—voted to move forward with the pilot program. Rivera did not offer any specifics, but abstained from voting citing his “many concerns.”
One repeated question was how the future providers would navigate neighbors who might be hesitant to welcome rows of fiberglass pods to their proverbial backyards.
Youth and Family Services Division Director Julie Sanchez told councilors “it’s really going to be a negotiation with the neighbors,” but that there’s a real possibility neighborhoods will staunchly oppose shelters going up nearby. Providers will be required to create a “good neighbor” agreement with area residents that includes agreements about dispute resolution, cooperation, communication and standards for tenancy, the resolution states.
Community Health and Safety Director Kyra Ochoa added that the future land and service providers will have to work diligently to communicate with and educate neighbors the importance of offering an alternative to selective shelters or arroyos for a safe place to sleep. Last summer, the council and surrounding residents balked at the idea of using the Midtown campus for the purpose, despite that being the best suited city property among the nearly 100 parcels surveyed, she noted.
“The stress on our public safety systems, on our business owners is extreme,” Ochoa said. “So that is the rationale behind looking into this model which other communities have tried and found to be successful.”
Ochoa tells SFR the shelters would be an option for those who cannot get into one of the city’s shelters or for those who simply can’t or don’t want to use the city’s sole congregate living space. She says the pilot program would also help the city get an idea of how many people are without adequate shelter, something that’s currently hard to get a handle on.
“We continue to have challenges in estimating the number,” she says. “If you ask how many people are chronically homeless, according to the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness data, it’s something like 120 people, which we know is a wild undercount. If you ask people who do outreach what their estimates are, they’re going to range anywhere from 500 to 1,000. But it’s a very floaty number.”
During Wednesday’s meeting, Cassutt said she understood hesitation to vote for a resolution with many specifics yet to be decided, but called on her colleagues to take action to help those in need.
“At some point, we have to take a leap,” Cassutt said.
Ochoa and her staff told councilors the plan is to start with 25 units, then gauge need from there, adding her team estimates the city’s ARPA act cash can cover the new shelter spaces for about a year. A Fiscal Impact Reports estimates the city could spend up to $375,000 on capital outlay. The units would be equipped with heating, cooling and lighting and could fit two people. Proposals from would-be providers will need to have plans for security and sanitation needs.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to clarify the plan to seek bids.
