ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Albuquerque’s very first safe outdoor space is now open to help address homelessness in the city. 

The term “safe outdoor space” is a sore subject for a lot of Burqueños. The last time Albuquerque city leaders tried – and failed – to set up safe outdoor spaces to help homelessness, there was a lot of political squabbling and the initiative eventually fell apart. 

But city leaders are confident they got it right this time with a little help from a local church.

The city originally tried designating certain dirt lots as safe spaces for up to 100 people to spend the night. This new safe outdoor space will only welcome 10 people at a time. Organizers say that’s the sweet spot. They’re also letting the New Creation Church near Zuni and Pennsylvania do the heavy lifting.

The church plans to provide 10 tents – with sleeping bags and storage boxes – to unhoused people who need a safe place to spend the night. There’s a porta-potty and a hand-washing station outside, and access to showers and laundry services inside the church’s 24-hour facility.

If you’re thinking this is just a band-aid solution to the much bigger homeless issue, that’s how church leaders see it, too.

“We have to continue to work on the systemic causes. And while we work on the systemic causes, we have to provide humane and immediate response to people who are living on the street, fellow human beings and neighbors. And so this safe outdoor space attempts to be just that,” said New Creation Church Pastor Jesse Harden.  

Harden says unhoused people will have to apply to stay there and complete a background check. He says the only people they’ll turn away are sex offenders or criminals with violent felonies.

The church will connect people who stay there with a community support worker to help navigate their individual challenges.

Harden says it took about six months of permitting and planning to get this operation up and running. But city leaders believe this should be the model for safe outdoor spaces moving forward, and they’re encouraging other faith groups to pitch in, and help the estimated 5,000 people living on Albuquerque’s streets.

“This is the restart, the rebirth, the regeneration of an older idea. But now in a way that we think can work for Albuquerque, and actually be a place people can go, besides the street for a huge group of folks who they just want to be on their own, to recover on their own safely,” said Mayor Tim Keller. 

State lawmakers are also trying to pitch in. They allocated $80 million towards homelessness in this year’s state budget proposal — $40 million for the city and $40 million for Bernalillo County.

Although, it’s not clear exactly what that money will be used for, it seems city leaders are in a holding pattern until the governor officially signs off on that budget request – which should happen by the end of next week.