The City of Albuquerque announced this week that it had closed on a $15 million deal to acquire the Gibson Medical Center that will become the contentious gateway housing facility. After searching for years to find a location, and constantly being rebuffed by incredulous neighbors and opposing grassroots organizations, Albuquerque has now found a location to begin addressing the growing homeless population. With over 5,000 unhoused individuals in Albuquerque and no signs of abatement, the city settled on the Gibson site because it wouldn’t require construction and is already offering behavioral health programs on-site.
“This is never meant to be permanent. It’s meant to be a gateway to services that can then lead to people enabling and changing their lives” said Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller at the announcement. NMBC hopes that the forthcoming services offered by the gateway center will prove to be as transformational as Albuquerque citizens are being told. The city is facing a crush of unhoused individuals that is contributing to our heightened crime and addiction rates. Add in the social effects of newly legalized recreational marijuana and the “transformational” promises of the facility seem to be far from reality. Click here to read more.