Tiles adorned with the names of those who had lost their lives to housing insecurity lined the walls outside the office of Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless and also served as the backdrop for Representative Melaine Stansbury and housing officials from across the state to draw attention to the growing need for housing resources in New Mexico.
The housing providers that gathered with the Representative took part in a roundtable discussion on Tuesday morning and spoke on issues facing those seeking housing in New Mexico and how the battle in Washington over the GOP’s proposed budget cuts would impact the basic services that New Mexico relies on.
These providers were also all selected by the Representative to be submissions for FY 2023 and FY 2024 Community Project Funding.
In total, Stansbury has requested $53.1 million for 15 community funded projects that invest in housing, public safety, education and youth development and sustainability.
Among these projects includes $3 million for a shelter and navigational center for youth experiencing homelessness in Albuquerque, $1.8 million for a transitional housing facility for at-risk youth in Albuquerque and $994,950 for a transitional housing project for unhousing families on Albuquerque’s West Side.
Stansbury along with Senator Martin Heinrich also secured $4.2 million in funding in the 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Agreement to open New Mexico’s first medical sobering center, which will be located inside the Gibson Gateway Center.
All of these requests and funding comes as the need for housing resources continues to grow according to Stansbury, who said that housing insecurity can take many forms.
“Homelessness can mean and look like many different things. It can mean a family who’s couch-surfing or staying with friends or sleeping in a car. It can mean somebody who has actually lived on the streets for 30 years. It can mean an individual who is itinerantly sometimes has a place to stay and other times doesn’t and for every person that experiences housing insecurity, there are as many stories and experiences as there are humans.”
Stansbury said she will stand firm against any efforts that would threaten to cut funds to these providers and housing services.