The embattled Westside Emergency Housing Center (WEHC) took another hit this month after the city was unable to find an operator to run it starting July 1. Two organizations applied for a $4.1 million annual contract, but officials said their proposals were “unsatisfactory, incomplete and ineligible.”
Operator Albuquerque Heading Home, whose current three-year contract expires at the end of next month, said it will no longer run the facility and didn’t participate in the latest proposal process.
“We’re really trying to reorganize and focus. Running an operation like [the WEHC] was never our mission,” Chief Executive Officer Connie Chavez said this week. “We’re pulling back and committing to our original mission, which is to serve folks well. [WEHC’s] not the perfect place; it’s hard and the funding is strenuous.”
Chavez, who took the helm about a year ago, said the city has asked the homeless services provider to extend its contract on an emergency basis until a new operator is identified.
Read more about the city’s search for a new contractor here.
The city has now come up with a new approach in the hope of attracting a bigger pool of candidates to oversee the shelter — one that’s open 24/7 and provides beds and services to hundreds of people experiencing homelessness. The 18-and-older population includes older adults, the medically vulnerable, people living with mental illness or substance use disorders and those who are chronically homeless or newly so.
However, the new approach offers less funding than was in the most recent contract.
Health, Housing & Homelessness (HHH) spokesperson Katie Simon said the city will soon release two requests for proposals (RFPs) — one in early June for an operator at $3.1 million a year, and the second one this month at $750,000 a year for the administration of wraparound services like intensive case management with a goal to place clients into stable housing.
“This revised structure will be more flexible for our agencies and bring in more services,” Simon said. “We are in communication with Heading Home to ensure operations continue while the city is procuring another operator. We do not anticipate there to be any break in services at the WEHC.”
‘Deplorable’ WEHC sees improvements
The aesthetics of being located in a former Bernalillo County jail, its deteriorating condition, and the remote location of the WEHC has provoked plenty of criticism by homelessness advocates and some of its residents.
But while city officials acknowledge some of the same issues, they say the idea of closing the shelter down is not an option because the need is immense, and closer alternatives to the city center like the Gateway Center at Gibson Health Hub are not yet sufficient.
“The WEHC is deplorable, but even in that condition, there are at any one time 400 to 600 people out there. We can’t just close it,” said Daymon Ely, an adviser to Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller on homelessness.
Ely said the WEHC in the short term needs to be made “livable and safe” with more frequent transportation to and from the city center for clients seeking services like health care.
He also said the shelter should not be privately run, a point he laid out in his policy proposal to Keller. Ely’s preference is that a government entity — like the city or Bernalillo County — consider operating the facility. He said it would be less expensive and provide more transparency and accountability through public oversight.
The city agrees that the WEHC will be part of its system of care for those experiencing homelessness for “the foreseeable future,” and has embarked on interior and exterior improvements.
Simon said renovations to its 12 dorms will include paint, floors, LED lights, bathroom fixtures and partitions, and beds with lockable storage. She said the first dorm renovation, at $180,000, is scheduled to be completed next week. The total cost of interior renovations will total around $4.2 million and exterior improvements that include shade structures, pet areas, outdoor furniture and paving will cost about $1.7 million, she said.
New funds approved by the Albuquerque City Council this week should help with the high price tag. On May 6, the council voted unanimously to authorize the sale of $22.5 million in gross receipt tax improvement revenue bonds for projects throughout the city, with $4.5 million designated to the WEHC.
“The additional bond funding allows us to do more,” Simon said.
