Ending homelessness ‘isn’t a pipe dream,’ advocates say
Report from New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness estimates it would cost state $260 million over five years to get more than 6,500 off streets
Anew, in-depth analysis on how much it would cost the state government to house those without a home suggests eradicating homelessness across New Mexico could be feasible in the next five years.
The report, compiled by the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, examines data from several statewide organizations and estimates it would cost the state about $212 million over five years to expand existing programs and $48 million in capital outlay for additional housing units to get more than 6,500 people off the streets and ensure others don’t end up there in the future.
The ultimate goal is to end homelessness in New Mexico — or, more accurately, “to create a system in which homelessness is rare and nonrecurring,” said the coalition’s executive director, Hank Hughes.
“It’s doable, it’s feasible and it’s important,” said Nicole Martinez, executive director of Mesilla Valley Community of Hope, a Las Cruces-based nonprofit that offers housing programs, case management and educational services.
“This isn’t a pipe dream,” she added. “Homelessness isn’t something that’s going to go away on its own. It’s going to require these types of solutions.”
A spokeswoman for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said the governor was unavailable Thursday to comment on the coalition’s proposal but included in her proposed spending plan funding for programs that assist the homeless community.
The governor’s budget includes $4 million for a permanent, supportive housing program that would provide vouchers for “rental assistance and support services for homeless adults diagnosed with serious mental illness, functionally impaired and very low income,” Judy Gibbs Robinson said in an email.
The governor’s spending plan also includes $2.4 million for programs that address youth homelessness, Robinson said.
The coalition’s comprehensive report, Analysis of Resources Needed to House Everyone in New Mexico, suggests two approaches to address homelessness: rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing.
Rapid rehousing is a method that works best for people who eventually can obtain employment and support themselves and their families, Hughes said. Permanent supportive housing is a strategy better suited for people with disabilities who might never be able to
maintain a household on their own and require lifelong financial assistance.
According to the new report, the total number of New Mexicans experiencing homelessness ranges between 15,000 and 20,000 people each year.
In 2018, more than 12,500 people in precarious living situations sought services from agencies that supply data to the New Mexico Homeless Management Information System, a project of the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness. But this number doesn’t include the thousands of people each year who receive help from privately funded agencies that don’t share data and those who do not seek help at all, Hughes said.
The coalition’s report says more than 6,500 individuals per year do not get the help they need to get off the streets. The money to provide them with housing should come from the state, Hughes said.
“The state does not really do much in terms of housing and homelessness right now,” he said, noting its current funding for programs that aid the homeless is about $2 million.
Hughes said he hopes the state will provide an additional $6 million this year to address homelessness and will arrive “at a peak period” in the report’s five-year plan in which it will provide $60 million a year.
The report proposes the state provide $30.65 million in the first full year of the plan, $61.3 million per year in the following two years, $40.9 million in the fourth year and $20.45 million in the fifth year.
Additionally, it recommends the state make a one-time investment of $48 million for construction of permanent supportive housing for 300 people “with such severe substance abuse and mental health issues that they would pretty much need constant care,” Hughes said.
The total cost for the housing project would be around $72 million, Hughes said, but he expects $25 million of the cost to come from the National Housing Trust Fund, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program and other sources.
Hughes envisions around-the-clock case management at the apartments and medical assistance.
The $260 million total over five years is “a significant increase” in the state’s investments in addressing homelessness, he said.
But he and other advocates said the cost would be partially offset by decreased spending on emergency services for people in the homeless community.
A recent study by the University of New Mexico, cited in the coalition’s analysis, followed 95 chronically homeless people in Albuquerque and concluded that after 12 months in housing, the costs for emergency rooms, medical outpatient procedures, emergency shelters and jail time for the group decreased by 31 percent — or $12,832 per person. The savings in one year was more than $1 million, the study said.
“What happens is that as people are homeless, those who fell on hard times, they start to use more and more emergency services to get their needs met,” Hughes said. “… If you house those people, there’s a net savings to the overall system.”
Martinez agreed, noting that a model known as Housing First, which focuses on immediately finding homes for those living on the streets, is critical to solving problems that stem from homelessness.
“A lot of times, people refer to housing as being health care,” she said. “… It helps improve people’s quality of life, giving them something that’s stable and secure. It’s a good starting point to helping improve their well-being and health care.”
But the report says agencies would have to double their current efforts for permanent supportive housing and triple their efforts for rapid rehousing to fully address homelessness across the state.
“It will be a challenge,” Martinez said, “but we are used to challenges. And we need to start working on them now.”