Redlined city budget shows $1.5M in cuts for Health, Housing and Homelessness, but city councilor says funding could return by mid-year

May 17—More than $1.5 million in funding for the department of Health, Housing and Homelessness — the city of Albuquerque agency supporting affordable housing, homeless services and behavioral health care — was struck from the proposed fiscal year 2025 budget at a Thursday City Council committee meeting. The City Council has until May 31 to adopt a finalized budget.

The proposed budget from Mayor Tim Keller asked for a $63.2 million budget for HHH, with $52.2 million of that coming from general fund appropriations. In total, the proposed department funding made up 6.2% of the total general fund appropriations.

Committee of the Whole Chair Klarissa Peña said the administration requested City Council add funds for Explora, the library, the BioPark, early childhood education and a gas tax subsidy that was mistakenly excluded from the budget. The City Council obliged.

"The FY25 budget is balanced," Peña said. "... To fund the Mayor's technical adjustments, as well as the subsidy, the Committee of the Whole cut the funding of the contracts for six months."

Peña said if the contracts are filled, the City Council will fund the remaining six months.

Katie Simon, a spokesperson for HHH, said the department did not find out about budget changes until Friday. Simon said cuts at the Westside Emergency Housing Center could affect contracts for food, medical care and shuttles to and from the site, which houses several hundred people on any given night.

"The idea of cutting medical services even a little bit is very dangerous to do," said Daymon Ely, a lawyer and former state legislator. "Then, of course, you're talking about food and transportation when what we're trying to do is get people off the streets."

Ely is tasked with developing a city plan, including short-, medium- and long-term goals, to tackle homelessness.

The budget cuts also include $75,000 from the Albuquerque Indian Center, $50,000 from the Collective Impact Project, $400,000 from Family Promise, $20,000 from Interfaith and $20,000 from the Veterans Integration Center.

To-be-determined contracts, which include various contractors at the Westside Emergency Housing Center, the Gateway medical sobering center and hotel and motel conversions, were also slashed, Simon said. Such contracts are for services the department expects to provide, but do not yet have a contractor selected as of budget time.

Simon said offering less money could turn away some potential contractors. And for two contracts to help youth struggling with substance abuse and mental illness, the department had already a contractor selected: Enlace Comunitario. Those contract amounts were cut in half.

Bonnie Escobar, executive director of Enlace Comunitario, said the organization already budgeted the original contract amount. The cut, Escobar said, means they won't be able to expand their youth services by funding extra staffing and peer educators.

"We had been working with a very limited budget," Escobar said. That was before the group went through a "rigorous" Request For Proposal process with the city to secure additional funding.

Health, Housing and Homelessness director Gilbert Ramirez said the cuts could undermine trust with service providers working with the city.

"We already have shortages with a lot of agencies who are doing their best to maintain their staffing roles," Ramirez said. "Without funding commitments ... it's hard for them to continue the service they provide in a quality manner."

Ramirez said the cut funding went to "vital" services.

Going forward, he said, the department will push to find grants or other funding sources to recoup the losses.

"But I will say it'll set us back in our ability to continue the momentum of addressing the social issues in our community," Ramirez said.

A redlined budget document provided to the Journal showed while some other departments also had budget cuts, HHH had the largest decrease in funding. Several other departments saw funding increases after the City Council adopted the budget committee substitute.

Ely said the cuts send the wrong message. He plans to approach the Legislature to ask for $50 million during the special session.

"That's in effect saying, 'We've got all the money we need,'" Ely said. "And that is not true."