City Council earmarks $2.9 million in opioid settlement money for Albuquerque Community Safety

The City Council unanimously voted to distribute $2.9 million in opioid settlement money to Albuquerque Community Safety’s street outreach program and housing navigation services Monday night.

This appropriation is just one of many to come as Albuquerque receives a steady drip of funding from a $1 billion settlement agreement between New Mexico and pharmaceutical companies that made or sold addictive narcotic painkillers in the state.

Starting in the 1990s, the over-prescription of addictive painkillers created the opioid crisis that tore across the country and continues today with the illicit sale and use of synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

ACS outreach is one solution to that problem and officials said they’re beginning to see results.

“This isn’t in theory, this is in practice,” said ACS Director Jodie Esquibel. “We see this working.”

ACS helps divert emergency calls from police to trained social workers and other unarmed responders. While ACS often responds to crises, it also does proactive outreach to help those living on the streets apply for housing and substance use treatment programs.

The housing navigation program, which currently has two dedicated staffers, has a 78% success rate in getting people off the streets and into housing, according to a city news release. Esquibel said that the program, which has existed for roughly six months, has gotten 62 people into stable housing.

The $2.9 million was earmarked for crisis response services as well as housing stability efforts such as eviction prevention. For those with nowhere else to go, ACS will coordinate payment of overdue rent to keep people from getting evicted, or settle a tenant’s outstanding debt with other landlords. And to remove financial barriers, ACS can also pay for first or last month’s rent and security deposit to get keys in hands.

The resolution was sponsored by Councilors Nichole Rogers, Renée Grout and Joaquín Baca.

The money is for two different groups of people, $1 million will go toward street outreach to help people who are currently homeless and struggling with substance use, while $1.9 million is for people who are still housed, but struggling to balance rent and treatment.

With funds for eviction prevention, Rogers hopes that more people will be able to take steps toward recovery without fear of becoming homeless.

Meanwhile, Lindsay Fox, a physician assistant and director of the University of New Mexico’s street medicine team, applauded the appropriation.

“As a provider on the street who’s sat on the curb with folks struggling with substance use disorder, I’ve really been able to see the synchronicity that ACS navigators, along with our teams, can really affect change in our constituents and our neighbors,” Fox said.