City launches campaign to help homeless
Seven billboards will ask people to donate money for housing vouchers
As yet another prong in the city’s attempt to tackle the problem of homelessness, Mayor Tim Keller on Friday launched the One Albuquerque Housing Fund campaign.
The city will partner with Clear Channel Outdoors, which is donating space on seven billboards located throughout the metro area, asking people to give to a fund that will specifically provide vouchers for homeless individuals and families.
Brenda Begley, vice president of Albuquerque sales for Clear Channel Outdoors, said the seven billboards will consist of one measuring 14 feet by 48 feet, and six smaller ones in the range of 12 feet by 24 feet. The billboards will be placed in rotating locations for the next year. The message is expected to reach about 850,000 impressions a week, she said.
The new campaign replaces the previous administration’s There’s a Better Way campaign, and the blue signs around the city that encouraged motorists to donate to a general fund for homeless services, rather than give pan-
handlers money. That campaign, administered by United Way, raised less than $30,000 from 2015 through 2018 via the DonateABQ online portal advertised on the signs.
Keller said he is confident the new campaign will generate more money because it is focused specifically on a fund to provide housing vouchers. The blue signs will eventually be replaced by signs promoting the One Albuquerque Housing Fund campaign, he said.
Keller recently announced other measures to deal with homelessness, including the possible construction of a centrally located 24/7 shelter facility with supportive medical, mental health and social services; and, until that is built, keeping the West Side winter shelter open year-round.
“We believe we can take hundreds of people off our streets with housing vouchers, which are part of a ‘housing first’ model that says if you stabilize an individual, if you get them meaningful shelter, then we can provide the kinds of support services to get them on their feet,” the mayor said.
The One Albuquerque Housing Fund will be administered by Heading Home and HopeWorks (formerly St. Martin’s), which already have contracts with the city to provide housing and other services to the homeless.
When people accept vouchers, they must also accept case management and supportive services, which is integral to the transition from the street, to vouchers to permanent housing, usually via Section 8 or public housing, said Dorothy Otero, housing director for Heading Home, which has been providing housing to the homeless for years.
According to Lisa Huval, deputy director of housing and homelessness in the city’s Department of Family and Community Services, “more than 90 percent of people who receive a housing voucher with some supportive services attached, stay housed.” Further, it is more cost-effective to house homeless people than to leave them on the streets where they drain public resources, she said.