The city of Albuquerque will soon begin the process of relocating the residents of the encampment, using police to forcibly remove anyone unwilling to leave, and have social workers and charities try to connect them to resources and more permanent indoor shelters.
The encampment itself is part community, part skid row, generating numerous complaints from businesses and residents in the area about a spectrum of illegal activity.
One of the groups trying to assist the homeless population there is St. Martin’s, a Christian charity that runs a shelter, provides free meals and helps to connect people to healthcare and other services.
On two recent trips to Tent City, individuals were seen selling jewelry and other goods, including what appeared to be a variety of drugs. Several cars, one seen several times on the same day, drove up to the camp, stopped outside, and Tent City residents were seen approaching the car’s windows and possibly engaging in transactions.
Attempts to reach Albuquerque police or city officials to confirm the extent of illegal activity were unsuccessful.
Among the residents is some sense of community and camaraderie, however, with people helping each other and sharing meals, water and clothing.
The city of Albuquerque has provided them with a portable toilet, after receiving complaints about human waste scattered around the area. Those residing in Tent City also declined to speak on record.
Vicky Palmer, associate executive director at St. Martin’s, said addressing the needs of local housed people along with helping to relocate the residents of Tent City is easier said than done.
“I think it’s a really tough balancing act with the city because you want to make all of your citizens happy, and homeless people are part of those citizens. I think our city has been trying really hard to find that good balance.” Palmer said, “Not all homeless folks like shelters, and that’s why they may possibly end up in a tent versus a shelter, even if there are available spots. Some folks have mental illness, anxiety disorders, and that’s not a real good spot for them.”
Much of the homeless population used to congregate underneath overpasses in the warmer months, she said, but once it got cold the tents went up — making the population much more visible to neighbors.
St. Martin’s has been providing services at First and Iron for about a year now, utilizing their own outreach group to assist and offer services to those in need, she said.
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Those living in the area of Tent City are accustomed to the outreach team from St. Martin’s, and most of the population is open to working with those outreach members, Palmer said.
“We know them really well; all of our outreach folks are intimately involved with each of the folks in the tents and are actively helping them to relocate and to find services as well as housing,” she said. “We are absolutely taking a multi-dimensional approach to ending homelessness. Our agency provides housing, job search, development and job placement. We provide mental health services, so we always try to get that wrap-around approach so that we can eventually end homelessness.”
At the forefront of that mission is the outreach team, St. Martin’s “boots on the ground.”
Lance Hemington, program manager for outreach at St. Martin’s, said the early-morning outreach at Iron and First began in June, where they would set up at 6 a.m. every other Friday.
With the relocation looming, Lance and his team visit Tent City daily to engage the population there into accessing services at St Martin’s and Albuquerque Health Care For The Homeless, along with many of the other organizations working to help the homeless in Albuquerque.
On a recent trip social workers were starting the process of finding some residents another place to go. One man, however, became belligerent and began shouting that he would not be leaving willingly, leading many to fear that eventual confrontations with police could become violent.
Aside from currently sheltering around 7,000 clients, other services offered by St. Martin’s include hot showers and a meal service that usually amounts to 400 meals per day, he said.
Hemington and his team inform those at Tent City that they can assist them in relocation to other parts of the city if they refuse to go to a shelter, he said. They also can connect to out-of-state family members of clients to get them a Greyhound ticket to be reunited with that family.
“There’s a lot of clients that don’t want to be down there, a lot of clients that are stuck down there. We try and untangle some of that confusion and see what services we can offer them and how we can help, and they are pretty responsive,” Hemington said. “The myth is that a lot of these guys want to be on the streets, and it’s not the case. I meet very few people that have ever turned down the opportunity to get housed and to get into a safe, secure apartment and back to a normal life.”
On Thursday the outreach team was boiling hot water in preparation to head out to Iron and First, where they offered hot chocolate and soup while simultaneously connecting those in need to shelters and medical assistance. The soup and beverages often serve as icebreakers and gateways to those who are quick to distrust visitors, Hemington said.
The methods and outreach of St. Martin’s have brought a lot of positive reaction and feedback from the population, he said.
If a client is unwilling to accept shelter or housing help, Hemington and his team offer to relocate them where they will be near an adequate bus route and services — but it is only a temporary solution.
St. Martin’s hopes to eventually establish its own more permanent Tent City to prevent the constant relocation and uprooting of the population, Palmer said. The site would have to be well-controlled with security and even heated tents.
It’s difficult to find property to establish a permanent Tent City, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, and Palmer knows the constant relocation cannot go on forever.
“Whenever one place is closed, people are going to pop up somewhere else — certainly if you move somebody from one street, they’re going to pop up in another street,” she said. “If it’s this neighborhood and you move them out, they are going to pop up in another neighborhood, so you’re not really addressing the underlying cause of homelessness, you’re just moving them.”
Matthew Reisen is a staff reporter at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com, or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
