ALAMOSA — Alamosa City Council is holding a meeting Wednesday night in City Hall to hear from the public regarding the future of St. Benedict, a campsite created by the city where people who are unhoused have the “legal right” to set up a tent or sleep in their cars.
The phrase “legal right” is directly tied to the purpose of the meeting, and the camp itself, after the Supreme Court recently overturned a 2018 decision that prohibited local municipalities from enforcing no camping ordinances without an alternative place for people who are unhoused to stay.
That 2018 ruling was part of the city’s rationale in creating St. Benedict in 2020. The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn means that, as was stated in the city’s press release dated July 18, “The City of Alamosa no longer needs St. Benedict in order to enforce the no-camping ordinances on public property (sidewalks, parks, trails, alleys, etc.).”
The topic of St. Benedict has been an issue of contention among residents of Alamosa, something of which council members are distinctly aware.
“The City recognizes that homelessness is a problem without easy solutions, and St. Benedict has long been a controversial topic for our community,” read the press release.
Homelessness is not unique to Alamosa and, by all accounts, will not be easily or quickly resolved as the current situation was decades in the making and the result of a constellation of factors.
And there are legitimate questions on both sides of the issue, some that can foster discussion based on data.
According to City Manager Heather Brooks, creating the campsite, including making modifications and repairs, cost over $130,000, an expenditure funded by grants and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Service Act (CARES) and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
Ongoing and recurring costs – including actual costs and costs offset by in-kind contributions – come in at slightly less than $20,000 a year.
According to Judy McNeilsmith, director of operations and program services with La Puente, data collected by street outreach personnel and co-responders with the Alamosa Police Department shows that 270 unique individuals have resided at St. Benedict since its creation, not including those individuals who may have lived there, left and then come back.
All the people “have received at least one service while residing at the camp.” When asked to define “received services”, McNeilsmith translates that to mean “they have either been given information or connected with a person to help determine what’s the next step.”
As of Aug. 6, there were currently 112 unhoused people in Alamosa, including 38 at St. Bendict, 26 at the shelter operated by La Puente, nine people living in their cars and 39 people living on the streets.
When asked, McNeilsmith defined living on the streets as “staying on the river, staying in someone’s backyard or walking all night and sleeping somewhere during the day.”
She adds the numbers reflected in this data are the lowest they have been in 10 years.
Of the 270 people who have resided at St. Benedict, 124 people have left the encampment to live indoors, including 36 individuals who have moved into rental housing of their own. That equals 45% of all residents.
One of the most evocative points of contention relates to the question of where the people who are unhoused are originally from – are they from the Valley or did they come here from some other place.
Data is helpful insofar as it creates a common ground between people with different, and sometimes, directly oppositional viewpoints. As small as that common ground may be, it might provide a good starting point for a discussion that is, to a degree, value-based.
Against this backdrop, Alamosa City Council encourages everyone who has an opinion to attend the meeting. People who are unable to attend are encouraged to share their thoughts with city council members through their contact forms found on the city website at https://cityofalamosa.org/departments/city-council/.
The Public Meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 14, at City Hall, 300 Hunt Ave.
People can also comment via zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85753492744.
