ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – It’s no secret that homelessness is a big issue in Albuquerque. On Tuesday, the City of Albuquerque shared how many families they’ve helped through one of its homelessness programs. 

“There’s always more to do, you know, T think we know that people need help in our community,” said
Department of Health, Housing and Homelessness Public Affairs Specialist Katie Simon.

Simon says families are especially hit hard.

“Families actually tend to be among the undercounted when we do these kinds of annual counts. Because oftentimes, families are doubled up with family or friends, or they’re staying in cars, or they’re not showing up necessarily in the same places where you might see individuals,” Simon said. 

In 2020, the city launched the Family Housing Navigation Center program, which they say has helped more than 370 families since then. 

“During COVID, we decided to put families up in a hotel setting part of it was, you know, to try to reduce disease spreading. But also, you know, it turned out to be a format that worked a lot better for families with children. In the three years, we’ve been running this program, we’ve housed 1,200 people total, we just passed that milestone last week, which is about 377 families,” Simon explained. 

When you break down the numbers, Simon told KOB 4 it’s about eight to 10 families each month. Last year, the program helped 94 families find housing. 

“We really built a brand-new program, a housing navigation program to help families get out of the shelter and into stable housing in roughly 90 days,” Simon said. 

The program is similar to the Housing Navigation Program at the Gateway Center. Instead, it’s catered more towards families.

“You have to build a lot of separate things when you’re trying to have families with children in the same spaces as single adults. So instead of replicating everything we were already doing over at Gateway we decided to keep families where they are now, and just do more beds for single individuals and couples over at Gateway,” said Simon.

The program is referral based, which families can get from a service provider agency like Heading Home, Hope Works or Albuquerque Community Safety.