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While the weather affects everyone, those who are unhoused face significant exposure and often dire consequences from storms and the fluctuation of hot and cold temperatures. Advocates for those experiencing homelessness in Albuquerque say summer 2024 — one of the hottest on record — was particularly tough for those living on the streets. Many suffered heat exhaustion, dehydration and severe sunburns.
As winter approaches (forecasters say the season could be colder than normal) so do other challenges, including hypothermia, frostbite and the spread of colds and viruses.
Nonprofit organizations, along with city and county agencies, say they’re ready to do more outreach as the demand for overnight shelter beds and other services inevitably rises.
“The most dangerous times are at night when the scant resources are not open. People are left utterly vulnerable,” Ilse Biel, a volunteer with multiple advocacy groups for the unhoused, said. “We have encountered numerous folks outside during cold weather outreach with severe frostbite.”
Biel recalled an encounter last winter with a woman who was lying on a sleet-wet sidewalk with two thin blankets and clothes that weren’t substantial enough to fend off the elements.
“She had lost her possessions and was so frozen,” Biel said. “It was fortunate we chanced upon her when we did.”
Biel was with a volunteer for AsUR New Mexico, an outreach program for women living on the street who helped the woman get into dry clothes with hand and foot warmers. They wrapped her in emergency silver foil blankets.
“We gave her a ground cover, tent, and as many blankets as we had,” Biel said. “Like many folks, she preferred not to have us call any of the formal agencies. She was still alive the next morning, thankfully.”
Biel said when cold weather is particularly threatening, she encourages people to stay at Gateway West — the overnight city shelter with a 660 capacity. But she said its jail-like aesthetic, remote location, and reputation for subpar conditions keeps many away.
“They would still prefer to take their chances outside,” Biel said.
The city has been working this year to make improvements. Five of Gateway West’s 12 dorms have been renovated and 300 new beds have been installed. Officials expect to complete two more dorms and install an additional 120 beds in the next month. There are other interior and exterior improvements underway or on the horizon, but the demand for beds limits how quickly upgrades can be done.
“Throughout winter months, we will continue improvements one dorm at a time to ensure enough beds for those seeking shelter from winter cold,” Health, Housing & Homelessness Department (HHH) spokesperson Connor Woods, said. “When all sleeping dorms have been completed, we will have a recreation room available for activities again and we can begin outdoor improvements.”
City-county collaboration
Jessica Jaramillo-Salazar, director of Bernalillo County’s CARE Campus detox center in the International District, works with the city on winter outreach. While the center offers inpatient and outpatient services, it doesn’t operate as an overnight shelter, and many people show up looking for a bed on cold nights.
“We see an increase of clients seeking services due to the cold weather and they are staying longer,” Jaramillo-Salazar said. “The issue is we hit our capacity a lot quicker.”
She said her staff has had success tapping Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS) to transport people to shelters with bed availability. Last winter, an ACS pilot program logged more than 1,000 transports of those living on the streets to emergency shelters.
“For the upcoming winter, we’re expanding this service by hiring more staff and starting the program earlier to better support the community,” ACS spokesperson Jorge Hernandez said.
He said ACS will also leverage the Gateway Center’s first responder receiving area, which has assessment rooms for those who need help short of emergency services.
Meanwhile, HHH officials said this week that the department was in the final stages of “reimagining our approach to our winter plan,” and that details would be released soon.
Encampment sweep setbacks
Biel said encampment sweeps during the winter months are particularly dangerous for those living outside. In addition to identification and important documents, some lose warm clothes, blankets, tents and sleeping bags when items are discarded, she said.
“It becomes very disheartening for those of us doing outreach to hustle to get the warm stuff together, get it out on the streets, and then see items disappear into the dumpsters during displacements only to have to go through the same process again,” Biel said.
The latest point-in-time (PIT) count report released this summer by the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness noted that a majority of respondents said they’d lost critical items during encampment sweeps, which were a major impediment toward securing housing.
During next year’s PIT count, scheduled for Jan. 23-29, census workers will for the first time hand out socks, beanies, gloves, scarves, hand warmers and emergency foil blankets.
City policy, meanwhile, is to give illegal campers a 72-hour notice to vacate, offer to store belongings, and be transported to Gateway West for a bed and information on available services.
Ways to help
Hernandez said in addition to supporting shelters and nonprofits through donations, it’s important to keep an eye out.
“During extreme weather conditions, if you see someone who may need assistance, don’t hesitate to call 311 [for] non-emergency situations or 911 [for] emergency situations,” he said.
Biel said many organizations that do street outreach also accept donations, like the Albuquerque Friends Meeting House, AsUR and East Central Ministries. A Light in the Night also maintains an Amazon wishlist where people can purchase donation items.
“Housed people frequently are wonderfully generous,” Biel said. “What would be ideal, though, is if people were to become more aware of their neighbors who are left outside and start handing out those donations themselves.”
Added Hernandez: “A kind gesture or simply checking in with someone in your neighborhood can make a big difference. Showing empathy and concern for others is a powerful way we can all contribute to building a safer, more caring community.”
