An Albuquerque nonprofit using an uncommon model that provides two years of housing, education and support to families experiencing homelessness has expanded to the Westside. Saranam’s objective is to stabilize and make independent what are most often single mothers with children who have endured domestic violence and other trauma.

The program helps narrow a gap that homeless advocates describe as an emergency in Albuquerque. The options for families experiencing homelessness are few and capacity levels are strained at daytime sites like Cuidando Los Niños and family-friendly shelters such as the Barrett House, Joy Junction, and the city’s Family Housing Navigation Center.

Saranam — an Indian word for refuge — has operated at capacity at its Northeast Heights location since 2014, executive director Tracy Weaver said. The site near Eubank and Lomas boulevards encompasses almost an entire city block and includes a 24-unit apartment complex, administrative offices, classrooms and a home used as a family center. 

“We provide housing upfront because that ends homelessness,” Weaver said. “Then we start working on all the things that got them either in poverty or homelessness — the traumas, crises and barriers.”

Weaver said ever since hitting limits in 2014, Saranam has worked to secure a second location to double its capacity and ease the pressure on ever-growing waiting lists. Its new $12.8 million, 3.5-acre Westside site will help. Located near Montaño and Taylor Ranch roads, it is set to welcome families in May. The development includes 15 two-bedroom and 10 four-bedroom homes that are fully furnished through donations. The homes, along with offices, classrooms and a donation center were built from former Albuquerque Public Schools portable classrooms purchased at auction.

Noteworthy success

Saranam describes its properties as campuses because it places families in two-year cohorts that start each August to line up with the school year. 

Adults enroll in academic or vocational programs at schools like Central New Mexico Community College to earn an associate degree or certificate. Children enrolled in daycare, pre-K or public school. After graduation, families become Saranam alumni.

Families also receive life skills training, child care and access to after-school programs. Parents are provided with bus passes, gas money, a cash stipend, and case management services.

“We do a lot of stabilization in the first semester — really talking about values and how our decisions and actions affect where our lives go, and talking about how to come together for each other,” Weaver said.

Weaver recalled a mother and son who entered the program — a registered nurse who arrived from Cuba after experiencing domestic violence. While trying unsuccessfully to obtain her nursing school transcripts from Cuba, she earned a phlebotomy certificate. Her then “wild and crazy” son entered kindergarten but by the time he left had “settled down” and was a leader among his classmates. The mother, now a traveling nurse, purchased a home in Rio Rancho after graduating from Saranam.

Weaver also reminisced about a couple who had previously lived in tents, under bleachers, and at Joy Junction for most of their lives. 

“They both grew up generationally homeless and dropped out of high school,” she said.

When they were 19 and 20 years old and having children, Weaver said they resolved that their children wouldn’t grow up the same way they did.

“They applied to Saranam and we said: ‘Oh, we can help this family,’” she said.

Weaver said the motivated couple quickly earned their GED diplomas. Each completed a year-and-a-half of college and after graduating, they rented a small townhome where they stayed for about eight years. Last November they bought their first home.

“She ended up being a stay-at-home mom and he kept getting promotions at his job,” Weaver said. “If we can have an impact on what’s happening 10 years after they’re gone, that’s real.”

‘The need is out there’

The third Saranam pillar, with housing and education, is community. Families attend gatherings on campus; there are community gardens and playgrounds. 

“We have two evenings a week that are family nights,” Weaver said. “It’s just a fun night, because if you’re homeless and in crisis, you’re not having fun with your kids and building those relationships with them.”

She said the design works: 77% of those who graduate from the two-year program are able to support themselves without a need for subsidies. She said she’s not aware of another program in Albuquerque or in the country with Saranam’s success rate or approach. 

“There’s places that have pieces that are similar,” Weaver said.

Saranam’s operational funding doesn’t come from government sources, a strategy that Weaver said provides more flexibility. She said about 10% of the budget comes from an endowment, 30-to-40% from foundations and grants, and about 50% from private and corporate contributions.

Finishing the build-out of the Westside campus did receive a recent $1 million boost from New Mexico lawmakers Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) in an appropriation bill.

It was Frances Thaxton Ash, an Albuquerque resident for 90 years, who was the funding force behind Saranam’s launch when she left a $3.8 million estate to the Central United Methodist Church near Central Avenue and University Boulevard. Thaxton died in 2001 at 95. 

Church officials hired Weaver in 2003 to explore a new kind of transitional housing program for families experiencing homelessness. Weaver had experience in the field in South Florida and in her home state of Oklahoma, where she helped start a reintegration program for ex-offenders and their families called Exodus House.

“I came in and I said, you know, if you can do anything, let’s do housing, education and community — the relationships are important,” Weaver said.

Meanwhile, even though the paint has barely dried at the new Westside site, Weaver said Saranam is plotting the next steps.

“The need is out there; there’s families out there that need help,” she said. “We’re already talking about what that next 10-year vision is because the Westside campus is already essentially full. We’re talking about replication.”