EDITORIAL: Coronado Park closure increases urgency for Gateway Center

Sep. 4—Two-hundred encampments a month.

That's how many makeshift campsites the city of Albuquerque has been clearing around the city, and it's only getting worse after last month's promised closing of Coronado Park.

The city's graffiti team has been assisting its encampment clearing squad, which has 20 staff vacancies, city officials said last week. They have become some of the most essential workers among the city's 5,800-person workforce.

Until last month, city crews spent every-other Wednesday clearing out Coronado Park, which had become an unsanitary, drug-infested, crime-ridden hellhole. It had to close.

"We literally just cleaned their house for them," Mayor Tim Keller said of the unsanctioned encampments that filled in the park.

But within hours of each routine cleanup, up to 120 homeless individuals returned, and the cycle began anew. Now that the park is closed, encampments have popped up elsewhere just as many, even city leaders, had predicted.

This ongoing homeless crisis, considered a "very serious issue" by an overwhelming number of respondents in a recent Journal poll, speaks to the need for the city to charge forward with the long-awaited multimillion-dollar Gateway Center in the old 572,000-square-foot Lovelace Hospital at 5400 Gibson SE.

The opening has unfortunately been delayed by construction issues and a yearlong zoning dispute.

The city now says it has the zoning approval it needs to proceed and open Gateway for overnight clients, although some Southeast Albuquerque residents continue to challenge the development.

Initial plans are for 50 emergency overnight beds for those who identify as women by "this winter." Pressed for when "this winter" is, city leaders did not provide a more specific date.

Meanwhile, 40 sobering and medical-respite beds for men and women are planned to open by July. That will offer a real step forward for those living on the streets with substance-abuse and medical issues.

Clients will be allowed to stay at the Gateway Center for up to three months. While by no means the end game, that's also a significant step forward for many now living in squalor and/or unsafe conditions.

Also this winter, the city plans to begin a first responder 24/7 drop-off and engagement center at Gateway, the first in the state, according to the mayor. Keller says the Gateway will give first responders a more appropriate option beyond the ER or jail. Keller told Journal editors and reporters last week "until we have that, we will never see a significant difference in what's happening throughout our system of unsheltered services and mental behavioral health services."

It's important to note the Gateway Center has several service providers already operating in the massive former Lovelace Hospital. City leaders say AMG Specialty Hospital, Fresenius Medical Care, Haven Behavioral Hospital, the New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Turquoise Lodge Hospital, Zia Healthcare and Café Food Services are already serving 300 people a day.

That's a strong foundation upon which to build an array of services to help people get back on their feet.

The city's plans are ambitious — to make the Gateway Center as busy as the former Lovelace Hospital, serving 1,000 people a day with a dozen service providers.

It's ambitious, but the mayor assures us "it's going to happen." We hope it does.

Keller and his administration deserve credit for sticking with the Gateway initiative despite repeated hurdles. The project has been met with opposition since before Keller's December 2020 announcement to buy the Gibson site. The city's top choice for a large, purpose-built homeless shelter was a vacant piece of University of New Mexico property east of Interstate 25 and north of Lomas, but UNM leaders announced in early 2020 they were "no longer interested" in selling to the city.

It was a setback, but the city rightfully didn't give up.

The city's purchase of the former Lovelace Hospital for $15 million, finalized in April 2021, made it the largest city-owned facility outside of the Albuquerque International Sunport. Funding for the purchase and improvements includes $14 million from a voter-approved city bond question in 2019, $5 million from the city's budget, about $1 million in past years' state appropriations, $1 million from Bernalillo County bond proceeds and $500,000 in corporate contributions.

The money has been there to build an expansive homeless shelter and services facility. It's just been a question of will and overcoming opposition from neighbors.

Albuquerque residents want something done. That's clear from the Journal poll, in which 77% of likely voters described homelessness as a very serious problem, a sharp increase from four years ago when 54% of respondents described it as such. The overwhelming majority opinion was shared by Democrats and Republicans alike.

The closing of Coronado Park makes the need for solutions even more acute. The city should forge ahead and make the Gateway Center a success. It's clear from the polling Albuquerque residents believe there's no time to waste.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.