Several groups are appealing the city's efforts to launch an ordinance designed to address the city's homelessness problem.
KOAT 7 News reported that the city has approved the approved Safe Outdoor Space (SOS) ordinance, which is designed to address the homeless situation in Albuquerque and help sex trafficking survivors. Critics feel that the ordinance will lead to homeless encampments in their neighborhoods, such as unsanctioned encampment in Coronado Park that was shut down by Mayor Tim Keller in 2022.
"We've already experienced this with Coronado Park," Santa Barbara Martinez Town Neighborhood President Loretta Naranjo Lopez told KOAT 7. "This isn't the right location. We think they should be in a house, in a facility where they're getting the treatment that they need and they're indoors getting indoor showers, indoor bathrooms."
Judy Young, a member of Women Taking Back Our Neighborhood, said SOS is not a sufficient solution to the city's homelessness problem.
"This is another piecemeal, throw it together, slap it around," Young told KOAT 7. "This is not a solution. It's not going to help the city. It's not going to help these sex trafficking victims. There is nothing good that can come out of this."
The city has heard the appeals, which will be passed on to the Land Use Hearing Officer who will make a recommendation to the city council to uphold, deny, or remand the appeals.