A New Mexico Department of Health project designed to serve people experiencing homelessness in rural areas where transportation, language and service barriers exist needs more funding.
The call came during a presentation to state lawmakers by Patrick Allen, the department's appointed head. The health department secretary advised the New Mexico Assembly's Health and Human Services Interim Committee on Monday that the department needs to increase the $4 million allocated by the Legislature last year.
“This project is not trying to comprehensively address homelessness. It's just looking at one end of the issue,” Allen said.
He added that the challenges people face in accessing services are more complex in rural areas, with fewer services available and longer distances to reach them.
According to the 2024 Point-in-Time Assessment, which estimates the number of people experiencing homelessness in the state as of Jan. 29, at least 4,600 people in the state are experiencing homelessness.
The majority of people in this situation are in Albuquerque, according to the report.
Instant counts rely on volunteers to count people in their own neighborhoods in a single day, a figure that is recognized as an undercount that only gives a fleeting picture of America's homeless population on any given night.
Homelessness across New Mexico has increased again since last year, according to the latest “point in time” count.
Not all New Mexico counties participated in the count. Organizations or volunteers participated in 20 of the state's 33 counties in 2024. Hidalgo, Lee, Lincoln and Key counties responded for the first time.
Allen said the state has partnered with 13 community organizations to provide services in 19 counties across New Mexico. Areas that received expansion support from the state include Farmington, Española, Santo Domingo Pueblo, Roswell, Silver City and Las Cruces.
Who did the state meet with?
Mobile units provided food, street medicine, overdose prevention and assistance to over 3,000 homeless people in areas where they already lived or frequented, rather than waiting for them to receive services. They were also set up to deliver benefits, job training, housing and documentation to people.
When asked by councillors why people were losing their homes, Allen said the crux of the issue was the availability of affordable housing.
“This might sound like me being cocky, but the biggest cause of homelessness is not having a home,” he said.
Allen said funding for the mobile project currently requires continued funding from the state. He said the department will work with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's office to determine what's needed beyond next year to expand the program to more counties and partner with more organizations.
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He said he hasn't yet decided how much money he will ask the Legislature for when the legislative session ends in January 2025.
State agencies have until Sept. 1 to submit spending requests for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to the Legislative Finance Committee and the Department of Finance and Management.
