The contract between Heading Home, a non-profit entity that will operate the Gateway Center, and the City of Albuquerque is going before the city council for approval. The Gateway Center is looking to open phase one in the spring. Phase one includes opening 50 beds for women.
“They are going to be our real, our boots on the ground providing services to the people who are going to be residents of this program,” Katie Simon, Public Affairs Specialist for the city’s Family and Community Services Department told KRQE.
The City is asking for $1,094,370 for the contract to fund Heading Home’s operation of the center.
“I’m really excited because, for the first time, we’ll be able to bring in specifically women into phase one, who have been banded together out on the street and have not had a safe place to go where they could stay together as a group,” Steve Decker, CEO of Heading Home told KRQE. “We’ll be able to give them their own pod; they’ll be able to stay together as their social group. It’s unlike any other shelter program where people are forcibly separated because it’s a congregate shelter.”
The funding also supports operating a 24/7 receiving area, which allows first responders to drop off someone in need.
“It’s going to be brand new to our community and really help alleviate a lot of the pressure on emergency rooms because that’s really the only place to take those folks right now,” Simon said.
Lastly, the legislation also would fund 50 emergency winter beds at the Gateway Center until April 3, to help alleviate demand at the Westside Shelter.
“That is the largest shelter in the state,” Decker said. “Typical capacity is around 450 people. I’ve seen it go as high as 700 on a really bad winter storm night.”
With the phase one opening slated for spring, Heading Home is trying to increase its staffing.
“We’re actually hiring people like crazy,” Decker said. “We’ve been posting positions in order to have three employees, 24/7, seven days a week, you really have to have 15 full-time employees to cover all of those shifts. We’re paying substantially above minimum wage for people who have no experience. We’re happy to train them, just getting the applicants is the hardest part.”
