Organizers of ‘come-as-you-are’ shelter search for ideal location
Three areas around S.F. considered for campus that offers transitional housing and services for homeless
Organizers of a proposed campus offering transitional housing and services for homeless people say one of their top three locations for the 10- to 15-acre project is on a parcel of state land in the center of the city, near the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.
The group told dozens of people at a public forum Friday at Christ Church Santa Fe about the three potential sites for the multimillion-dollar One Door project, an effort led by local architect Suby Bowden and nonprofits that serve the homeless.
More than 50 potential locations were considered for the campus, Bowden said during the forum, hosted by the nonprofit Santa Fe Need and Deed and St. Elizabeth Shelter. The top three sites include an area of city land in the Northwest Quadrant, city land near the south-side Tierra Contenta neighborhood and state land on St. Michael’s Drive near the university campus.
“Essentially, there is sort of a split in the community,” Bowden said. “Some feel that this program must be in the middle of town, available and easily walkable, in a sense. Others feel that these programs should be on the edge of town, essentially because of a better relationship to nature, more calming and not up against the battles of NIMBYism — ‘not in my backyard.’ ”
Over the next six months, Bowden and other members of the committee will continue to evaluate how the proposed campus, modeled after a successful 7-year-old project in San Antonio, Texas, and its location could best coordinate with the more than 40 organizations in town that serve the homeless population.
The response from the crowd of about 90 people to the One Door project was mostly positive. Questions were centered on logistical concerns.
One member of the audience asked about whether the campus would serve people with alcohol and substance abuse issues who were resistant to treatment.
“We’re looking at this as a come-as-you-are
shelter, so we would be having people come in who would be under the influence,” said Tom Starke, with the Santa Fe Behavioral Health Alliance, who has been helping to organize the project.
Iris Kramer, a retired teacher who said she has spent some time camping outdoors in Santa Fe because she couldn’t afford housing in the city, asked about travel to and from the campus site.
“It was interesting to me that two areas being considered for the location were on the outside of Santa Fe,” Kramer said. “Somebody’s wandering on the streets of Santa Fe — how do you serve them, as well, in these outlying areas and get them to come?”
To solve transportation issues, Bowden said, the group hopes to start a van program to take people from the campus to medical and behavioral health clinics and organizations that serve the homeless population. She hopes that transportation plan will get off the ground even before the campus is built, helping many people overcome a major barrier to health care and other services.
As for the campus, the group still has planning and fundraising to do. Bowden says they would be “very fortunate” to see the campus built in the next three to five years.
That time frame is a bit outside what Olivia M.C. was hoping for. Olivia, who asked that her full name not be published, is fighting eviction from a mobile home community where she has lived for more than 13 years.
She hasn’t been able to find a job for the last year, she said, despite the fact that she has a master’s degree from New Mexico Highlands University. She has fallen two months behind in rent, has been living without electricity and said she came to Friday’s meeting because she’s afraid that someday soon she’ll need a safe place to stay while she tries to get back on her feet.
Even though One Door won’t help her out in the near future, she said, “It gives me hope that there are people who care.”