Albuquerque Opens Its First Sanctioned Safe Outdoor Space on Church Lot

Albuquerque opened its first sanctioned safe outdoor space on Thursday, with a ribbon-cutting at a church-owned lot in the city's Southeast. Officials described it as a meaningful start, though several speakers stressed how much more would be needed to make a dent in homelessness.

The site is a managed campsite where people without housing can sleep in tents or vehicles and use showers and bathrooms. It sits on land belonging to New Creation Church Albuquerque on Zuni. Ten tents or tiny homes, intended to serve as transitional housing, surrounded the small lot where the ceremony took place. Attendees included housing and homelessness officials from churches, nonprofit organizations and the city.

Enrique Cardiel, executive director of the Health Equity Council, who called himself a "downer," put the milestone in perspective with the line "One down, 899 to go." He pointed to differing estimates of how many people live on the streets. "Some people say there's 5,000 folks living on the streets," he said, citing the 2024 Point-in-Time Report estimate of unhoused residents in New Mexico. "Other people say it's 9,000. So that's 900 of these spaces that we would need."

City officials acknowledged that ten shelters amount to a small share of the need but said the site will operate alongside other efforts. Gilbert Ramirez, the city's Director of Health, Housing, and Homelessness, said in a statement that it is essential to create touchpoints around Albuquerque that offer pathways out of homelessness and access to resources such as case management. "This is not something we can achieve alone," he said, adding that the city needs support from the faith-based community and other partners.

The City Council narrowly approved safe outdoor spaces in 2022. Mayor Tim Keller said the ceremony, held three years later, was not meant as a photo opportunity or publicity stunt but as a message to the community. "We need, like, 100 of these all over our city as soon as possible," he said.

Keller added that churches are in a unique position to help carry out that goal while the city continues to invest in larger shelters. "We have to meet people where they're at, both literally, but also in terms of their needs," he said.

Pastor Jesse Harden of New Creation, who emceed the event and oversees the site, described homelessness as a symptom of broken and failed systems. "While we work on the systemic causes, we have to provide a humane and immediate response to people who are living on the street, fellow human beings and neighbors," Harden said. "And so this safe outdoor space attempts to be just that."