Gateway Recovery, one of Albuquerque’s newest addiction recovery programs, is now 68% full. The pallet home micro-community near the Comanche exit on Pan American can house up to 50 people in 46 units — 42 for singles and four for couples.
The facility’s success marks a sharp turn from the heated City Council debate that approved it in March. Concerns about operator Endeavors and its past contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement led to a 6-3 vote after tense questioning over the Texas group’s federal ties.
Now, six months later, Councilor Joaquin Baca — who represents the district and has criticized other Gateway projects — calls Gateway Recovery “a success story.”
“Gateway Recovery, as far as I can tell, is a success story,” Baca said in a recent interview. “The administration has done a stellar job. Kudos to the administration on this one.”
Baca’s praise marks a shift from his earlier criticism of other Gateway facilities over funding and accountability. He said Gateway Recovery stood out because city leaders and the council worked closely together during planning.
Since its opening in May, Gateway Recovery, Albuquerque’s first dedicated recovery housing project, has provided housing for 34 individuals (11 women and 23 men). The facility aims to address a critical shortage in the city’s recovery system, which currently has only 800 recovery beds available.
Residents struggling with opioid use can stay up to two years while receiving treatment, peer support and life skills training on site. Officials said early results show some residents have already moved into permanent housing, a sign the model works.
“We know when people have 18 to 24 months of sobriety, they are more likely to stay in recovery,” said Gilbert Ramirez, the Health, Housing and Homelessness director at the groundbreaking. “This new community will be the first step in achieving long-term sobriety and will offer a pathway to opportunity and a new life.”
The program is part of the Gateway Center, which the city is expanding to connect unhoused residents not only to shelter but also to long-term stability.
The site includes community rooms for treatment, case management and housing support.
The city contracted with San Antonio-based Endeavors, a faith-based organization with 55 years of experience connecting unsheltered individuals to services, to run the pallet micro-community.
During the March council debate, some councilors and residents questioned Endeavors’ 2021 contract with ICE to house immigrant families in hotels. Company officials said those families were not detained and could leave voluntarily.
“Gateway Recovery will be pivotal in helping people achieve long-term sobriety,” said Ramirez when the operator was selected earlier this year.
Rapid Implementation Praised
What sets Gateway Recovery apart from other city projects is how quickly it came together. Baca said the facility moved from proposal to opening far faster than most city efforts.
“From the first time the administration pitched it to actual opening day, and for it to be a functioning, exactly what they hoped it would be… I think, by any city standards, it was very, very quick, executed and implemented and actually working,” Baca said.
That praise is a shift from his criticism of other Gateway facilities over funding and accountability. He said Gateway Recovery worked because city leaders and the council collaborated closely during planning.
A Department of Health, Housing and Homelessness-commissioned report released last June found Albuquerque has only 800 recovery beds, far fewer than needed and called for more low-barrier housing, meaning recovery housing with fewer rules.
Recovery Gateway was meant to help fill that gap, and the facility continues working toward full capacity.
Connor Woods, spokesperson for the Health, Housing and Homelessness Department, said Gateway programs use a gradual “ramp-up” to let providers add staff and services step by step as residents arrive. The city builds the spaces and sets the rules, but private providers run daily operations, he said.
“Within the contractual agreement with our providers, they have to ramp up staffing and capacity,” Woods said. “Whenever we open recovery, medical respite, medical sobering or a navigation center, there’s a ramp-up period to make sure staffing meets the needs of the people who are actually there.”
Woods said there is an overall misconception that Gateway is just a shelter. “If we were just doing sheltering, it would be easy to open 100 beds, but that doesn’t meet people’s immediate needs. The goal is not to provide just sheltering. It never has been.”
Baca agreed with Woods’ assessment.
“Even like with the Westside, people think of it as just an overnight shelter. And that’s not accurate,” he said. “They’ve got nurses out there providing care, they’ve got caseworkers out there, they’ve got storage systems out for folks. It’s way beyond just an overnight shelter.”
Woods said the city determined that people need intensive case management, which is provided by the housing and treatment navigation center.
He said the Gateway system has shown strong results. He cited unreleased fiscal year 2025 data showing the program has served 549 people.
About 85% of previously unhoused residents were connected to long-term treatment or housing, including recovery housing, permanent supportive housing, substance use disorder treatment, behavioral health services, or inpatient care. “That’s a pretty big success rate, if you ask pretty much anyone,” he said.
Future Evaluation Plans
Baca said he plans to measure Gateway Recovery’s success by “graduation rates” — how many residents complete the 12- to 24-month program and move into independent living.
“What success is, is how many people graduate from the program as they go around,” Baca said. “If you go in, you’re there for the full year, or whatever, and you come out of there, while you’re there, they’re going to be getting services, job placement, they’re going to be getting all the different things. I think just graduation rates would be phenomenal to see.”
However, he cautioned against expecting immediate comprehensive success data. “When I talk to a lot of folks that have gone through addiction treatment, it doesn’t happen overnight by any scratch,” he said. “It’s still new. So, you know, a system designed for one year to 18 months, I don’t expect data right away on that.”
The facility is funded with $5 million from city opioid settlement funds and $1.7 million from Bernalillo County and state grants administered by the county.
The facility is the city’s latest effort to expand its Gateway network of services for people experiencing homelessness. The broader Gateway system has faced scrutiny from city councilors over funding and accountability, with some calling for more transparency about operations and outcomes.
Woods said the facility continues to accept referrals as it works toward full capacity in the coming weeks.
What’s next for Gateway
The city is expanding its Gateway network to serve young adult populations in the Duke City.
Albuquerque is converting the former San Mateo Inn on San Mateo Boulevard near I-40 into Gateway Young Adult, a facility for people ages 18 to 25 experiencing homelessness.
The city bought the property for $4.8 million and is renovating it into a shelter with wraparound services, using a total budget of about $12 million from city, state and federal funds.
“In the last fiscal year, we saw more than 140 young adults” at Gateway West, Woods said. The new facility will house about 50 young adults and offer life skills training alongside traditional recovery services.
“What we found is a lot of young adults who end up at Gateway West are from the foster care system,” Woods said. “So it’s people, it’s young adults who fell through the cracks, who didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
The program will teach basic skills such as cooking and doing laundry. “Things that you and I may take for granted,” he said.
The inn will provide 30 to 40 beds, common areas, a community kitchen and space for future transitional housing. Freedom Magnet High School is nearby, and public transit routes connect the site to Central New Mexico Community College and the University of New Mexico.