Chris is typical of someone who is homeless in Albuquerque and eager for the city to open a shelter inside the Gateway Center.
“It’s rough bro, these cats are freezing their butts off every night almost dying surviving off a candle,” Chris told KOB of living on the streets.
Chris, like many homeless, also struggles with addiction, something the Gateway Center will have resources to address when it opens.
“There is no rehabilitation,” Chris said. “If they could rehabilitate me, I’d probably be working a job. My partners would all be working jobs. We could beg them to give us a job and they still won’t let us have a job.”
An asbestos discovery pushed back the construction and scheduled opening of the Gateway Center. David Sisneros, chief operations officer of Heading Home, the state’s largest provider for the homeless said the asbestos discovery was a surprise. “I know the city is doing everything they can to mitigate that,” Sisneros said. “We’re certainly hoping to see these roadblocks minimize and kind of diminish.”
Heading Home will operate the shelter inside the Gateway Center when it eventually opens. According to KOB, the nonprofit also runs the city’s safe outdoor spaces for cars at the Westside Emergency Housing Center and the Albuquerque Opportunity Center.
The city’s third approved space is now being reevaluated. Dawn Legacy Pointed, the nonprofit behind an approved space on Menaul near the Big I, reportedly pulled its application after going through two rounds of appeals.
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said a search is underway for a new spot. “They’re really well-intentioned, so I understand they’re probably going to maybe look for another location that might be a better fit, and it’s probably a good thing,” Keller said. “The biggest thing that we’re focused on is the Gateway Center because that’s a real answer.”