Albuquerque laws restricting homeless encampments get support from DA, Rio Rancho in civil rights case

As the city of Albuquerque's enforcement of public camping laws against the homeless faces a potential legal test at the state Supreme Court, the city of Rio Rancho, the Bernalillo County District Attorney and lawyers representing unhoused clients have weighed in.

Even the state district judge whose ruling triggered Albuquerque's unusual request for Supreme Court intervention on Aug. 11 opted to respond.

According to the two cities and 2nd Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman, the stakes involve "serious public safety implications" involving the ability of New Mexico municipalities to protect public property and public welfare.

Attorneys for eight individuals who are involuntarily homeless and live outdoors say the city's attempt to regulate homelessness is violating their civil rights. Their pending lawsuit, which seeks class action status, alleges in part that the city is denying their rights to due process, and that their right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment is implicated.

Those attorneys asked the Supreme Court to deny the city of Albuquerque's request.

At issue is whether state District Judge Joshua Allison of Albuquerque erred last March in agreeing with the lawyers for the unhoused that a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, was flawed in concluding that local governments could enforce use-of-space ordinances against the unhoused without violating their Eighth Amendment's cruel and unusual punishment protections.

Allison found that New Mexico's Constitution provides for greater protection against cruel and unusual punishment claims than were considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.

And while discovery in the case continues, the city of Albuquerque asked the state Supreme Court to reverse Allison's ruling. The state Supreme Court asked for a response to the city's request by last Friday.

Among those responding was Allison, who wanted to clarify that his ruling was only denying a motion to dismiss filed by the city — despite the city's contention that he had adopted a novel and unprecedented legal standard.

"The legal basis for those constitutional claims survived a motion to dismiss," Allison wrote. "It did not adopt a specific legal standard." He added that the suggestion he would grant the relief the plaintiffs seek in the future is "premature."

Meanwhile, Bregman's office contended in its brief that the judge's ruling "inexorably embraces a striking usurpation of policymaking authority from the City of Albuquerque in that it accepts the validity of a legal landscape in which City must surrender the vast majority of its outdoor public spaces to occupation by unhoused individuals."

The consequences for public health and safety will be devastating, the DA's brief states, if considering the facts presented in the Grants Pass case.

Grants Pass case filings from entities in California, Seattle, Washington state and elsewhere "describe a resulting proliferation of homeless encampments on public lands as authorities became powerless to disperse them, and a resulting downspiral into jaw-dropping, heart-wrenching conditions within the encampments and the areas surrounding them," states the DA's brief, which was requested by attorneys for the city.

"The localities reported being hamstrung in their ability to address conditions associated with the growing encampments," the brief states, listing associated issues as violence, drug overdoses, unsanitary living conditions and heightened risks of disease transmission.

The areas surrounding encampments have "seen increased crime, the flight of businesses, decreasing property values, and an overall loss of habitability," according to the brief.

The city of Rio Rancho's brief stated that as the third-largest municipality in New Mexico, Rio Rancho will be "significantly impacted by the recent decision of the Second Judicial District Court."

As it presently stands, the ruling "inserts confusion into how (Rio Rancho) can legally address the health, wealth, and safety of its citizens when dealing with the difficult circumstances surrounding involuntarily unhoused persons and their use of public places," stated the brief.

"The potential for different district courts to reach different decisions relating to the application of Grants Pass creates uncertainty," the Rio Rancho brief states, "and will result in the ineffective use of public bodies' limited resources across New Mexico."