Residents testified before Albuquerque City Council on June 6 in opposition to several Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) amendments focused on the issue of the rising homeless population in the city and where the homeless are allowed to stay.
There were a number of issues discussed, and conditional use versus permissive use of land stirred passion from the public, with resident Raven Del Rio testifying about the topic, according to a post on YouTube.
“By making IDO changes permissive use versus conditional, you subvert the process of community input necessary for building strong neighborhoods for both the unhoused and the housed,” Del Rio said at the meeting, shown in a post on YouTube.
According to city documents, the Albuquerque Integrated Development Ordinance set the definition of conditional to mean a land use that can be permitted in a zone pending conditional approval, while permissive use is defined as a land use permitted as either a primary or accessory use.
Del Rio also said in testimony at the meeting, according to the YouTube post, that some districts have shouldered a disproportionate share of homeless residents for many years, and under the proposal each of nine districts could have up to two endorsed encampments for the homeless.
However, Councilor Brook Bassan told the Albuquerque Journal after the meeting that it hasn’t been decided how many camps will be permitted. The newspaper reported that amid the adoption of the amendments to the Integrated Development Ordinance, it remains to be seen if some districts will shoulder more of the burden of the burgeoning homeless issue.