Could a court injunction starting Wednesday bring more safe outdoor spaces to Albuquerque?

A Social Security card. A phone. A winter jacket.

Those were among the items that people camping at Second and Prospect NW said were thrown away by city staff. Two men staying at the intersection said their belongings were thrown away on a daily basis.

Adrian McKellar and Patricia McDaniel said Tuesday morning they were given 30 minutes to vacate the spot where they, and their two dogs Nox and Angel, were staying. McDaniel said over the years, she’s had three identification cards thrown away. The couple said they also lost a $100 rock tumbler destined to be a Christmas gift.

“We’re constantly playing catch-up,” McKellar said. The pair said they had stayed in about five locations that week; McDaniel said they were hoping to spend the night at the Westside Emergency Housing Center.

At midnight Tuesday, a court injunction took effect that prohibits the city of Albuquerque from throwing away the possessions of people living on the streets, or otherwise forcing them to move from public places unless they’re on school property or dangerously blocking a sidewalk or other public right of way.

A Bernalillo County District Court judge ruled in September that there weren’t enough shelter beds to house all of the unhoused people in Albuquerque. A point-in-time count conducted at the beginning of the year surveyed about 2,400 people living in shelters or on the streets, although organizers said that number is likely much higher.

The Gateway Center, meanwhile, just opened 35 additional beds to prepare for the cold winter months.

“The addition of these emergency winter beds is definitely good timing vis-á-vis the injunction,” city Health, Housing and Homelessness spokesperson Katie Simon said in an email to the Journal. “But we also know that winter is upon us and we want to keep people from freezing.”

Simon added that the department is working on infrastructure improvements at the Westside shelter, including renovating bathrooms, adding a warming kitchen and purchasing resources including 490 new bedbug-proof beds, mattresses and pillows to attempt to increase the number of people who can be accommodated at the site. Plaintiffs in the case said the shelter was crowded and had safety and cleanliness concerns.

Monica Griego, who has been staying at the Westside shelter since September, said heating in her pod wasn’t working and several people staying in the shelter, including herself, had gotten sick from the cold. Simon said the city is getting the heat checked because it wasn’t blowing as much hot air as expected, and that staff collects extra blankets for people staying in the shelter.

The city has asked the New Mexico Supreme Court to intervene against the injunction, spokesperson Staci Drangmeister said in an email to the Journal, but has not received a ruling. Drangmeister said people are notified before being asked to vacate a public area. The city also asked for clarification about the scope of the injunction and has not received a ruling from the Supreme Court or District Court. In preparation for the beginning of the injunction, Drangmeister said the city increased shelter and storage capacity “for those willing to accept it” and would offer beds to people camping throughout the city.

But, while City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn said increasing capacity at Gateway and improving conditions at the Westside shelter are important, she said the city needs to take more immediate action to address the injunction.

Fiebelkorn introduced legislation, which will be voted on at the Nov. 8 City Council meeting, requiring city staff to find locations for and submit applications for three safe outdoor spaces, or sanctioned encampments within 45 days of the vote. The appeal process would also be suspended for safe outdoor space applications.

“With this injunction, I think we have to start scrambling to really comply with what this judge is saying,” Fiebelkorn said. “The other options here are very, very slim. If they truly enforce this injunction, we could be in a lot of trouble for our parks, our open space or our public areas.”

Safe outdoor spaces — sanctioned encampments that include services like showers and storage space — were narrowly passed by City Council in the 2022 zoning code update. Fiebelkorn said they could bring more immediate relief to people living on the street, given that it can take years to find properties suitable for a large-scale, indoor shelter.

Almost immediately after passage, legislation was filed to keep the city from accepting applications and/or remove any reference to safe outdoor spaces from the integrated development ordinance.

The measures were ultimately unsuccessful. But, although safe outdoor spaces were added to the zoning code over a year ago, it might not be obvious. To this day, just two applications have been accepted, both in the parking lots of existing shelters. Both approved safe outdoor spaces are only available to people with vehicles. Two applications have been withdrawn; five have been denied.

When the first application for a safe outdoor space on Menaul was received, it triggered a wave of appeals and was eventually withdrawn.

The First Unitarian Church was one of the organizations that applied to set up a safe outdoor space, in the parking lot of the church. The Rev. Bob LaVallee said about two years ago, he started to noticed a crisis in housing among the congregation.

But LaVallee said that ever-changing requirements for the safe outdoor space made it difficult for the church to pursue setting up a facility in earnest.

“The guidelines were very vague in the beginning,” LaVallee said. “As they were tightened up … it did start to feel like they were moving the goalposts on us.”

LaVallee said the church would have been required to hire 24-hour security, even though the safe outdoor space would only have operated for 12 hours per day. They would also have been required to install opaque fencing around the area.

The church’s application was eventually denied, and it stopped trying to set up a space. LaVallee said he’s not certain if the church will apply to set up a safe outdoor space again.

The parking lot had space for 10 people.

“It’s really a drop in the bucket compared to the crisis,” LaVallee said. “But it would have been something.”