Solutions to Rising Homelessness in Albuquerque 0

SOLUTIONS TO
RISING
HOMELESSNESS
IN
ALBUQUERQUE

ENGL 2210-006
April 21, 2022
Tamara Motley
CJ
DJ
 Solutions to Rising Homelessness in Albuquerque 1

Table of Contents

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………2

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………..3

Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………….4

Results Summary and Discussion……………………………………………………………….5

Conclusion and Recommendations……………………………………………………………..7

Glossary…………………………………………………………………………………………8

References………………………………………………………………………………………9
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Abstract
The purpose of this report is to understand why homelessness is rising in Albuquerque and a few
solutions to help better combat it. During our research we found that three main things are
impacting the rise: trauma from shelters, the covid pandemic, and drug abuse. The way we got to
finding these causes was dividing and conquering, we split up who was going to look for what
and would check in along the way to make sure everything flowed together well. Dividing and
conquering allowed us to find more diverse information. In our research we found that the three
main causes contributing to the rising homelessness numbers were trauma, mental health and
substance abuse issues, and the Covid 19 pandemic, we found these results through seeing what
kept popping up in our sources. A few recommendations we had were to provide more federal
housing and job opportunities for homeless people specifically, more outreach to help treat
mental health issues and drug abuse and to encourage the public to do more donating and
volunteering.

https://nmindepth.com/2020/albuquerque-rousts-unsheltered-people-from-camps-despite-cdc-guidance/
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Introduction
What are some noticeable issues in the city of Albuquerque? We asked ourselves this as we
reflected back on the city we reside in. One major problem that we noticed is the amount of
people there are without homes. There are often times when you drive around the city where you
can see people living in tents or people living under bridges or even people on the side of the
road asking for money. How did this come about? What could have caused all these people to
lose their homes? Where are their families? All these questions are the ones we asked ourselves
as we explored the reasons homelessness is rising in Albuquerque and solutions towards fixing
it. It is important that we are aware of this issue because homelessness is a constant issue in
many places including Albuquerque. Once we get a better read on what’s working and not
working and what has happened in the past, we can better come up with more solutions to help.
As we began our research, we found there were three main reasons as to why people in
Albuquerque were homeless: There was trauma in the homeless shelter that caused people to
resort back to their homelessness, due to the pandemic a lot of people didn't have enough money
to sustain suitable housing for themselves, and mental health issues. Knowing that these three
things have contributed to homelessness we can use them to learn how to better help in the
future. As you read this report you will be shown our methodology, results, and conclusion on
how we found our data.

https://www.joyjunction.org/albuquerques-tent-city-easy-solutions/
 Solutions to Rising Homelessness in Albuquerque 4

Methodology
In our research we found that the most effective approach was dividing and conquering,
this allowed us to narrow down what we were looking for and made it go rather quickly. We also
found that we gathered more diverse information when we split up, and this allowed us to use
and see different point of views in homelessness.
The way we found these reasons was by reading through our sources and picking out the
things that overlapped through each, by doing that we got a narrower list of the main causes of
homelessness: past trauma, low income, and mental health and drug abuse. We wanted to stick
with three main causes to keep it short, but we thought it was important to include mental health,
so we combined it with drug abuse since they usually go hand in hand.
Once we had our causes for the rise in homelessness, we started collecting more specific
data and put them in graphs. We used graphs since that’s an easier way to visualize how much of
an impact these issues are.
Percentage of homeless

A few of the things that limited us was not really being able to interact with homeless people in
person and asking them their point of view directly. I think that the causes we found are pretty
spot on but I do think we would have gotten more specifics if we were to have interviewed the
homeless. There was also a ton of data for the state of New Mexico but not much data
specifically for Albuquerque so that also was a limitation that we had in our research. In all we
had a pretty smooth work process that worked well with our group.
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Results Summary and Discussion

We came up with these three categories because these are the main reasons for going homeless in
this area. There are many homeless people around the country and even around the world and
they go homeless for different reasons based on the area they reside in. In our part of the country
these are the main three reasons.

- Trauma
- COVID Pandemic
- Mental Health Issues and Drug Abuse
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What is trauma? According to apa.org trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an
accident, rape, or natural disaster. According to feantsa.org many people that are experiencing
long term homelessness have been exposed to some sort of past trauma. They say that those that
are long term homeless or chronically homeless and cycle between the streets, psychiatry,
criminal justice services and temporary accommodation are the most likely to have been exposed
to trauma. In the case of the homeless the traumatic experience is homelessness itself as well as
being the victim or witnessing an attack, sexual assault, or any similar violent event. In our
research we found that many homeless who do experience trauma have said it has happened
withing shelters and homes they have stayed in, these past traumas make it harder for many
homeless people to seek shelters for help. Shelters are meant to be a place that is welcoming and
safe for the homeless not somewhere they fear to go.

The COIVD 19 pandemic also cause a huge rise in homeless numbers. The pandemic caused
many to lose their jobs, which caused unemployment, which caused very low income, which
caused homelessness for many. Even though the pandemic is slowing improving the homeless is
not. Since the pandemic caused so many businesses to close there are less jobs that are available.
Even if someone were able to find a job most don’t pay enough to sustain a steady income,
which makes it even harder to get back on your feet.

The last cause of homelessness that we discovered was due to mental health issues. There is a
reported 30% of homeless with serious mental health issues and 25% with a substance abuse
disorder as of 2021. Many homeless people have untreated mental health and substance abuse
issues and that is a big reason some stay homeless. For many it is easier to find drugs and
communities where drugs are acceptable on the streets, they find a sense of comfort within these
communities even if they are doing more harm than good. Since shelters don’t offer free drugs or
anything like that the homeless are not to eager to seek help from them. They are staying in the
places that give them what they want even if it’s bad.

As mentioned before there are many untreated or unknown mental health issues with the
homeless. For most their mental health is what drove them to being homeless, mental health is a
tricky thing to deal with and without treatment it can lead people to do unthinkable things. Since
there really is not much resources for homeless to get mental health help they are stuck with
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having to find their own ways to cope and for many that coping mechanism is drugs. As said
before drugs is a major component to homelessness and that combined with mental health issues
is not good. The last reason for homelessness was drug abuse.

Now that we know what is contributing to the rising numbers in Albuquerque, we can find better
solutions to help lower the homeless numbers.
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Conclusion
The current homeless situation in Albuquerque is bad and is getting worse. In 2021 it was
considered that at the annual “Point-In-Time” there were 1,567 sheltered and unsheltered
homeless people and they were all living in Albuquerque. Since 2019 there has been a slight
increase and without anything changing the number will constantly increase. There are many
solutions to have that number decrease, but it won’t happen overnight. The solutions that will
help are shelters, food pantries, and by creating more job opportunities.
Recommendations
In conclusion as a group, we recommended a couple of things for the government and the
citizens to have a chance on reducing homelessness percentage in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Although there are more solutions to fix the problem, we felt like the ones we picked were more
important.
Government Recommendations
New Mexico has had a huge rise in homelessness, and it is affecting society. The city that has the
most homeless people is in Albuquerque. Albuquerque alone has around 5,000 to 8,000
individuals that are homeless and living on the streets. There can be ways that the government
can reduce those numbers by a lot. Job opportunities can help to solve a lot of problems. By
creating more jobs homeless people can easily get money in their pockets and have a place to
sleep instead of the streets. If you want to get people off the streets, steps need to be made
quickly and efficiently. Federal housing programs are one of the most successful programs for
the housing solution for the homeless. Some of the states that used that program have made an
impact on society. Some states that used the program are Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Utah. The
federal rental assistance ends up helping 5 million households annually that are struggling and
need financial help.
The government can also help provide more trained individuals to assist with those that have
mental health issues and substance abuse issues. Having more available resources like clinics can
assist those homeless with the means to work toward their substance and mental issues.
Citizen Recommendations
Unless a citizen is wealthy and can provide their own shelter to the
homeless it would be hard to provide that kind of help. There are
other ways citizens can provide and those ways can consist of
Donating old clothes, volunteering your time to the homeless
shelters, and providing food. Homeless people can’t get themselves
clothes and by donating them your old clothes they can possibly
look presentable and maybe get themselves a job or at least working.
Mostly at shelters there aren’t many active workers and by citizens
committing their time to help the staff members would mean a lot.
Most of the time homeless people struggle finding food to eat, by
having a food drive it would benefit them and they can have the
chance to get something in their stomach. Some food drives just
don’t have to provide food; they also can provide necessities, such
as soap, deodorant, etc.
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Glossary
Homelessness: noun
1. lack of permanent housing, especially this condition generally as a matter of public
concern:

Necessities: noun, plural ne·ces·si·ties.

1. something necessary or indispensable:
food, shelter, and other necessities of life.

Drug Abuse: noun

1. addiction to drugs.
2. substance abuse involving drugs.

Chronically Homeless-
1. Chronic homelessness is used to describe people who have experienced homelessness for
at least a year — or repeatedly — while struggling with a disabling condition such as a
serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or physical disability.

Shelter- noun
1. something beneath, behind, or within which a person, animal, or thing is protected from
storms, missiles, adverse conditions, etc.; refuge.
 Solutions to Rising Homelessness in Albuquerque 10

References

Gonzales, G. G. (2021, December 9). Data shows number of unsheltered homeless has increased

in Albuquerque. Www.Krqe.Com. https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/data-

shows-number-of-unsheltered-homeless-has-increased/
Homeless Services. (2022). City of Albuquerque.
https://www.cabq.gov/family/services/homeless-services
Medina, A. (2021, April 16). Albuquerque Homelessness Rises During Pandemic.
Newmexiconewsport.Com. https://newmexiconewsport.com/albuquerque-homelessness-
rises-during-pandemic/
Writer, S. J. N. R. (2021, June 23). Homeless numbers see little change. Albuquerque Journal.
https://www.abqjournal.com/2402560/homeless-numbers-see-little-change.html
S, F. (2022, March 21). About Homelessness. Https://Www.Feantsa.Org/En/about-Us/Faq.
https://www.feantsa.org/en/about-us/faq
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH). (n.d.). Homeless in New Mexico
Statistics 2019. Homeless Estimation by State | US Interagency Council on
Homelessness. https://www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/nm/
trauma. (n.d.). The Merriam-Webster.Com Dictionary. https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/trauma
New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness. (2021). 2021 Point In Time Count.
Gonzales, G. G. (2021, December 9). Data shows number of unsheltered homeless has increased
in Albuquerque. Www.Krqe.Com. https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/data-
shows-number-of-unsheltered-homeless-has-increased/
Medina, A. (2021, April 16). Albuquerque Homelessness Rises During Pandemic.
Newmexiconewsport.Com. https://newmexiconewsport.com/albuquerque-homelessness-

rises-during-pandemic/
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Journal Editorial Board, A. (2019, December 26). Editorial: Looks like it's up to the cities to
work on homeless solution. Albuquerque Journal (NM). Available from NewsBank: America's
News Magazines: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-
view?p=AMNP&docref=news/17812A497088F128

Page-Reeves, J. (2011). Commentary: The Nexus of Poverty, Hunger, and

Homelessness in New Mexico. Social Justice, 38(3), 33–41.

City-UNM agreement step toward homeless solutions - EDITORIALS. (2019, February 23).
Albuquerque Journal (NM), p. A14. Available from NewsBank: New Mexico
Newspapers:

Chronically Homeless. (2021, March 31). National Alliance to End Homelessness.

https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/who-experiences-
homelessness/chronically-homeless/