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More people are going to city shelters and encampment sweeps dropping
Gateway West is a city-run shelter with more than 600 beds on the city鈥檚 far West Side near Double Eagle II Airport.
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With temperatures plummeting, more people experiencing homelessness are accepting rides to shelter, and there appears to be a decrease in encampment sweeps.
But as the city of Albuquerque鈥檚 services have ramped up, the availability in its shelters is fluctuating.
On Tuesday night, Gateway West 鈥� the city鈥檚 largest shelter, located on the far West Side鈥� was overcapacity and reported 641 of 630 beds were occupied, according to a . Wednesday, however, the shelter reported 555 beds were occupied and 75 available.
鈥淲hen capacity is reached at Gateway West, beds will be made available at Gateway Center,鈥� Connor Woods, spokesperson for the city鈥檚 Health, Housing and Homelessness department, said in a statement.
The tracker showed two beds available at the Gateway Center in Southeast Albuquerque, which has 50 total and six of 65 available at Family Gateway.
Temperatures were expected to drop to 32 degrees overnight Thursday.
The city will also activate emergency winter sheltering on its coldest days, Woods said, and credited the increase in people accepting shelter at Gateway West to renovations done during the fall.
With the increase in people accepting rides to shelter, as well.
In November, there were 512 recorded encampment abatements, lower than any previous month in 2024, according to data on the Health, Housing and Homelessness website. Numbers for December have not been posted.
鈥淣ovember was a particularly cold month. I think people accepted shelter, which is great, and with our improved services that we are providing, whether it鈥檚 (the Albuquerque Community Safety Department) doing the overnight transports 鈥� or it鈥檚 the increased services that we are trying to provide at Gateway West, we鈥檙e trying to get the word out there,鈥� Carla Martinez, associate chief administrative officer for the city, told the Journal at the end of December.
Some 496 people took rides to shelters in November; 640 in December; and 390 so far in January, according to ACS.
The numbers are attributed to lower temperatures, good preparation and increased outreach, according to Walter Adams, deputy director of field operations for ACS.
鈥淏uilding rapport with our unsheltered community is big, and then it鈥檚 the service that鈥檚 provided, knowing that they want to come in and that they鈥檙e in good hands,鈥� Adams said.
