When I left Albuquerque in 2018, an official count reported 2,551 homeless people scattered across New Mexico. By 2024, that number had nearly doubled, to 4,631.
Homelessness is a complex problem that all cities face. Nearly half of Albuquerque’s homeless population is unsheltered. And the city’s answer to this problem is a remote former prison covered in black mold, parasites and bed bugs.
Albuquerque’s introduction of Safe Outdoor Spaces provided a creative solution, promoting the use of private resources to ease a public problem. In light of the city’s ban on sleeping on public property, these spaces would decrease the number of unsheltered people forced outside without opening up the city’s purse strings to build more shelters.
But years have passed. Most applications have been denied or withdrawn, and only one Safe Outdoor Spaces site currently exists. That’s because, on top of freely sharing their land, property owners are required to provide 24/7 security, plumbed showers and toilets, social services, a six-foot-high fence, an operations and management plan, and more.
Earlier this month, the Land Use, Planning and Zoning Committee considered a proposal aimed at relaxing some of these stringent requirements. However, the proposal was narrowly defeated, highlighting the city’s ongoing reluctance to compromise.
For charitable individuals like Gil Kerley — whose used bookstore, Quirky Used Books and More, is across the street from my alma mater, Highland High School — the requirements pose an insurmountable barrier. Driven by compassion, Gil allows a few people to pitch tents in his bookstore’s parking lot, striving to provide shelter and a measure of dignity where the city falls short. In many respects, he has already aligned with the intent of SOS, but the demand for 24/7 security and social services is out of reach for a small, community-oriented bookstore owner.
Rather than being thanked for his efforts to ease suffering, Gil was fined. Fining someone for offering life-saving charity is more than just cruel — it’s unconstitutional. That’s why Gil has partnered with the Institute for Justice to challenge these penalties in court, to defend his right to help others.
Our lawsuit is built upon fundamental rights enjoyed by all New Mexicans.
The New Mexico Constitution guarantees the right to seek and obtain safety and happiness. Street-dwelling homeless people face profound health problems and risk becoming crime victims. They also face arrest if they sleep in a tent in public or on private property without the owner’s permission. They have a right to escape harm by sheltering on Gil’s property, and Gil has a right to provide help.
Additionally, the New Mexico and United States constitutions guarantee due process of law. This protects Gil’s right to use his property to help others, as people have done since before the United States existed. For centuries, New Mexicans have opened their homes to the poor, the sick and the displaced.
Together, these rights protect Gil’s ability to provide a refuge for those with nowhere to go. Homelessness is a complex problem without a proven solution. But Gil is one man trying to help with what he has. The city cannot — and should not — hold a monopoly on addressing homelessness.
Private individuals and organizations like Gil have shown that compassion and ingenuity can provide solutions to some of the most challenging problems we face. By challenging restrictive penalties through our lawsuit, we seek not only to defend Gil’s right to help, but also to open the door for others to play a meaningful role in resolving homelessness with dignity and humanity.
An Altik, who grew up in Albuquerque, is a litigation fellow at the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit public interest law firm.