Going into the 2024 legislative session, city officials had high hopes to secure a key request of almost $16 million in funds for projects at the Gateway Center at Gibson Health Hub. They ended up with $615,000. 

The city fared better overall, however, receiving about 29% of the funding it requested for a variety of projects, compared to 4% of the funding approved for the Gateway Center. 

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a final $10.21 billion state budget on March 6.

The massive budget includes $1.8 billion in capital outlay requests and general obligation bond appropriations for a variety of projects in communities across the state. Indeed, Gateway wasn’t the only project to fall short of expectations. Despite brimming state coffers, out of $4.7 billion in requests, only $1.8 billion was funded, according to the Office of the Governor and the Legislative Council Service. 

In total, the city of Albuquerque received $64 million in funding out of $225 million in requests for projects related to public safety, quality of life, housing, homelessness and more.

City exploring other funding options

Gateway is the city’s emergent strategy designed to address an increase in homelessness. The 572,000-square-foot facility currently offers 50 overnight beds and 35 seasonal beds, in addition to an array of social services from onsite vendors. It’s an expensive project with a price tag exceeding $70 million so far — money that’s come from city, county, state and federal sources. Securing funding is crucial for officials to launch new projects and address potential shortfalls.

The city requested $10 million from the state Legislature, but only received $470,000 in capital outlay money to expand its housing navigation centers at both Gateway and the Family Housing Navigation Center located nearby. A $5 million request for infrastructure projects was not funded, and $145,000 out of a $750,000 ask was approved for improvements to its trauma recovery center.

“While we didn’t get the full capital ask for Gateway, we are grateful for all our partners who help advance this important project,” said Katie Simon, spokesperson for the city’s Health, Housing & Homelessness department, on Monday. “The city continues to explore all funding options available; there are also pockets of statewide funding for housing and homelessness we will be pursuing.”

Gateway’s Housing Navigation Center did get an assist from Bernalillo County last month, however, when County Commissioners approved $3 million for the addition of 50 overnight beds.

“With the money from the Legislature and the county’s recent appropriation, we have the funds in place to proceed with construction and hope to bring an additional 140 housing navigation beds online in the next year,” Simon said.

‘I don’t see a whole lot of alternatives’

Rep. Elizabeth “Liz” Thomson, D-Albuquerque, was one of six lawmakers who allocated funds for Gateway projects when she designated a $25,000 appropriation for improvements to the trauma recovery center.

“The Gateway has had issues, but I don’t see that there’s a whole lot of alternatives,” Thompson said. “We need to figure out something; what we’ve tried to do so far is piecemeal.”

Thompson, who said she has a son and sister-in-law who live near Gateway, said each of the state’s 70 representatives had about $2.5 million in funds to allocate from “pages and pages” of requests for projects across the state.

“I try to give money to projects that have already shown success,” Thompson said. “We have to trust that the city has done the background work because it all happens so fast that there’s not enough time to sit down with your colleagues to plan, so sometimes you have to go with a gut feeling.”

She said the majority of her $2.5 million went toward projects related to health care, education and behavioral health.