Homelessness is on the rise in Albuquerque, and the city is proposing raising the cost of residential trash pickup to provide funding for cleaning up homeless camps.
According to a release from the city, City Council members Isaac Benton and Klarissa Peña sponsored a proposed fee increase on residential trash pickup at the request of Mayor Tim Keller. Councilor Dan Lewis strongly objected, saying that instead of focusing on how rising costs and homelessness are impacting the people of Albuquerque, Keller is choosing to pass on the costs of his failed policies to residents in the form of fee increases.
“Instead of enforcing loitering, trespassing and illegal encampment laws and removing the tent encampments in our parks, Mayor Keller is increasing the cost of trash pickup for every residential property in the city to pay for additional crews to clean up after them," Lewis said, according to the release. "People in our city are struggling with higher costs of living and the fear of not being able to make ends meet. Now, city hall wants them to pay even more to support a failed policy. This is why people do not trust City Hall."
The new fees would levy another $2,169,960 from residents to hire more city crews to pick up trash and clean up homeless tent encampments currently allowed in mostly parks throughout the city, the release said.
Proposals pending with City Council will change zoning codes to allow government-sanctioned homeless tent encampments throughout the city of Albuquerque, similar to those in Coronado Park. One proposal, sponsored by Councilor Brook Bassan, proposes the most radical version of tent encampments with a new use “living lot.” This means people living in light vehicles, recreational vehicles or tents would be given a piece of property — mixed-use zones and nonresidential zones — to live on with very little regulation. The other proposal proposes up to 45 so-called Safe Outdoor Spaces throughout the city, with at least five tent encampments in every council district.
The proposals come after major investments that the city and county have already made in temporary shelters, including Gateway Center, as well as private groups that provide temporary shelter and mental health and drug treatment, along with new private shelters, Lewis stated in a recent newsletter. Since June 2021, Keller has spent more than $40 million to address the issue of homelessness.
Homelessness in Albuquerque has been consistently on the rise for the past five years, and businesses and residents have noticed increases in crime, as reported by New Mexico Sun.
In a recent newsletter, Lewis expressed concern that council members sponsoring the proposals were gaming the system by entering amendments that would prohibit tent encampments from large portions of their own council districts, while pushing for more encampments in districts such as his Northwest Albuquerque District 5.
