Martineztown Neighborhood Association President Loretta Lopez gave a passionate testimony June 6 in front of the Albuquerque City Council, claiming that the homeless in New Mexico deserved more than to be living in tent camps on the sides of the roads.
Lopez spoke in favor of multiple policy changes to fix the city's homelessness crisis, calling for rent control and the acceleration of affordable housing initiatives. Furthermore, she called for the end of "band-aid" policies that will delay addressing the issue of homelessness instead of attempting to fix it.
"Our unhoused neighbors deserve the dignity of housing rather than sanctioned tent cities," Lopez said before the Albuquerque city council. "They deserve a place cool in the summer and warm in the winter. They deserve a safe place to age in and heal from the trauma of living on the streets. They deserve a place to call home more than anything!"
After hours of public testimony on June 6, the city council passed the annual zoning code update 5-4, Albuquerque Journal reported. The updated code will allow for each district in Albuquerque to have a maximum of two homeless campsites referred to as "outdoor safe spaces," not including sites created by religious organizations.
Two homeless encampments per district adds up to 18 homeless encampment sites in the entire city of Albuquerque. Original proposals for homeless encampments in Albuquerque called for 5 homeless encampments per district for a total of 45 throughout the city, according to Albuquerque Journal.
In an interview with the Albuquerque Journal, Councilor Trudy Jones explained the necessity of passing an annual update to the city's Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO). After that, she went on to say "We'll work on the other stuff later," in reference to the issues brought up during public testimony and council discussion. Jones was the only councilor to flip her vote to be in favor of the update after the first vote to pass the update to the IDO had failed.
Cities all around the country are dealing with a growing homeless population. In an interview with NPR, the site manager, Ashley Corbally, for a homeless encampment near Missoula, Montana.
"Is this a long-term solution? Absolutely not," Corbally said. "There needed to be something that could be put up quickly, that could be sustainable and temporary. We know this is just a band-aid to the problem. But it's something that we can do right now and affect real change in people's lives."