More people are going to city shelters and encampment sweeps dropping

With temperatures plummeting, more people experiencing homelessness are accepting rides to shelter, and there appears to be a decrease in encampment sweeps.

But as the city of Albuquerque’s services have ramped up, the availability in its shelters is fluctuating.

On Tuesday night, Gateway West — the city’s largest shelter, located on the far West Side— was overcapacity and reported 641 of 630 beds were occupied, according to a shelter bed tracker. Wednesday, however, the shelter reported 555 beds were occupied and 75 available.

“When capacity is reached at Gateway West, beds will be made available at Gateway Center,” Connor Woods, spokesperson for the city’s Health, Housing and Homelessness department, said in a statement.

The tracker showed two beds available at the Gateway Center in Southeast Albuquerque, which has 50 total and six of 65 available at Family Gateway.

Temperatures were expected to drop to 32 degrees overnight Thursday.

The city will also activate emergency winter sheltering on its coldest days, Woods said, and credited the increase in people accepting shelter at Gateway West to renovations done during the fall.

With the increase in people accepting rides to shelter, encampment sweeps appear to be down as well.

In November, there were 512 recorded encampment abatements, lower than any previous month in 2024, according to data on the Health, Housing and Homelessness website. Numbers for December have not been posted.

“November was a particularly cold month. I think people accepted shelter, which is great, and with our improved services that we are providing, whether it’s (the Albuquerque Community Safety Department) doing the overnight transports … or it’s the increased services that we are trying to provide at Gateway West, we’re trying to get the word out there,” Carla Martinez, associate chief administrative officer for the city, told the Journal at the end of December.

Some 496 people took rides to shelters in November; 640 in December; and 390 so far in January, according to ACS.

The numbers are attributed to lower temperatures, good preparation and increased outreach, according to Walter Adams, deputy director of field operations for ACS.

“Building rapport with our unsheltered community is big, and then it’s the service that’s provided, knowing that they want to come in and that they’re in good hands,” Adams said.