'They do not have to be on the street' Can a dashboard bring shelter to city's most vulnerable?

The city of Albuquerque is hoping a dashboard’s guidance will help keep some of its estimated 5,000 unhoused residents off the street during difficult winter nights.

The Shelter Connect Dashboard unveiled Friday at a news conference will “help connect people experiencing homelessness to shelter” according to a news release from the city’s Department of Health, Housing and Homelessness.

“It does not necessarily include every private shelter. We acknowledge that, but these are the ones that we’re tracking. And as you can see, tonight, we have some beds available, so we’re gonna be using that to determine whether or not we need to do literal emergency shelters and community centers,” Mayor Tim Keller said at a news conference Friday.

The dashboard listed more than 250 available beds at nine shelters Friday night. Temperatures were expected to reach the low-to-mid 40s overnight.

“I just want to be really clear for the public and...there’s a bed available for people to sleep. They do not have to be on the street. Now we understand they may make choices — that’s a different thing — but that bed is available,” Keller said. “They do not have to be on the street.”

By the city’s estimate, there are 5,000 people without shelter in Albuquerque. The total number of beds featured on the dashboard is 1,284.

The push to connect people with shelters and resources during the winter months is a joint effort between the Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS) department, Albuquerque Fire Rescue and Health, Housing, and Homelessness.

Health, Housing, and Homelessness Director Gilbert Ramirez said he hopes increased transparency will make this winter different than the previous.

“A couple of things I really wanted to make sure happened this year is that we had an outward-facing document to the public that you’re going to see here that’s on our webpage that shows what is our plan and how are we doing that integrating new services that came online this year. We’re definitely leveraging our ability to use technology,” Ramirez said, speaking about the dashboard.

Fire Rescue Chief Emily Jaramillo said the department responded to more than 70 outside fires on Thursday night and in the early hours Friday morning. She encouraged residents to call about any outdoor fires.

“We have a directive that we extinguish every outside fire that we respond to, and that can be a challenge for firefighters, because firefighters are also very compassionate folks, and so when it’s really cold outside and we’re asking or we’re extinguishing a fire that’s being used to warm,” Jaramillo said. “This is why we’re very excited that we now have our sister department, ACS, that we can call out, and they can provide transport to shelter for those individuals that can no longer stay warm.”

AFR will also pass out jackets or blankets to unhoused residents whose fires it extinguishes. Anyone who has donations can call 505-768-2860 to schedule a pickup or drop-off time.

Anami Dass, a local human rights advocate, hopes that the changes to the city’s winter procedures are followed by all the involved departments.

“Last winter the city removed thousands of encampments during the sweeps, meaning that the city confiscated their tents, coats, sleeping bags, along with everything else,” Dass said.

The city’s Solid Waste Management Department came under fire last winter for throwing away unhoused people’s belongings during encampment clearings.

“This year, AFR, HHH, ACS, and Animal Welfare will be stepping up to do right by people experiencing homelessness; hopefully Solid Waste, APD, and Metro/Transit Security see that and follow their lead,” Dass said. “I’d hate to see AFR’s hard work go to waste because another department decides to throw everything away.”

Christine Barber, executive director of AsUR, an advocacy group for women living on the streets, doesn’t think the added dashboard does enough.

Barber pointed out that two of the shelters listed — Good Shepherd and Albuquerque Opportunity Center — are male-only shelters, that Safe House is only for domestic violence survivors and that other shelters listed are not set up to be emergency shelters.

“This whole thing is, it’s all a shadow game; it’s very misleading. It’s very confusing,” Barber said. “Nothing has changed. It’s still exactly as it was. And all of these places, you still have to get a referral. This is not a thing that is as simple as they’re making it.”

Three of the nine shelters listed — Gateway First Responder Receiving Area, Family Gateway and Gateway West — are part of the city’s Gateway system of shelters and services. Gateway West has the most available beds and has undergone some recent renovations.

However, Barber doubts that Gateway West, a shelter 30 minutes by car from the city’s core, where the dashboard lists 97 of the 265 available beds Friday night, is safe despite the Keller and Ramirez saying that it now is.

“This isn’t a place that anybody wants to stay, so I’m really confused about all of this. To tell you the truth, I think that there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered about the dashboard and about exactly what’s happening with sites,” Barber said.