Mike McConnaughey

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
..2
METHODOLOGY.
3
RESULTS....
.4
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS...
.7
RECOMMENDATION..
.8
REFERENCES.
.9

INTRODUCTION
It is no secret that homelessness is a major concern
worldwide, New Mexico being no exception to the staggering
numbers of people without a steady place to live. According to the
most recent data available, roughly 17,000 New Mexicans
experience homelessness each year (1) with 854 confirmed as
homeless on the day of January 26, 2015 (2) alone.
This number is unacceptable. Any society that cares so little
for its people that it leaves so many at the mercy of the elements
is a society devoid of morals and compassion. To leave families
unhoused, to leave children unfed, to leave veterans with nothing
when they gave everything for us, is to be a society with no
ethical character.
It is the goal of this report to provide a picture of the current
state of efforts regarding homelessness in New Mexico, compare
these efforts to the highly successful Housing First initiative in
Utah, and theorize what such a program might have on New
Mexico compared those currently in place. Not only does this
provide a framework upon which to begin financially stabilizing
our state and uplifting those currently struggling, but it also puts
the morality of New Mexico back on track.

METHODOLOGY
Section 1
Explore demographics and statistics of those affected by
homelessness both nationwide and in New Mexico using popular
search engines online to find websites, government agencies, and
studies regarding the subject.
Section 2
Research statistics regarding the measures that are currently
in place regarding New Mexicos homeless demographics,
summarize data, and analyze why this system can be considered
a short and long term failure. Compare the current systems
against the Housing First initiatives and its success in Utah.
Section 3
Propose New Mexico move to a statewide Housing First
system to fight homelessness while effectively reducing state
spending.

RESULTS
In order to stand any chance of combating homelessness in
New Mexico, it is absolutely vital to first understand what kind of
people are homeless or are at highest risk of becoming homeless.
Lifting the veil on the facts regarding homeless demographics
leads primarily to a more comprehensive viewpoint regarding
what special measure may need to be taken regarding particular
subgroups and helps to fight misinformation and stereotypes
regarding the homeless community.
To begin, roughly 33% of New Mexicos homeless are minors.
Over 42% are disabled. 22% are veterans, many of whom cannot
find work since discharge because of injuries or untreated mental
illness including trauma. 26% are people fleeing from domestic
violence. (2)
Because just these groups make up a vast majority of the
homeless population in New Mexico, it stands to reason that
homelessness is not a simple matter of laziness. In fact,
homelessness is an incredibly complex homogeny of causes,
demographics, and struggles. Adding in racial demographics, the
picture presented becomes all the more interesting. Out of the
surveyed homeless people in the 2015 PIT survey, there were
roughly seven times more whites than Blacks and four times as
many whites as Native Americans, which effortlessly smashes the
stereotype that homeless people are usually People of Color.
There are other trends within the homeless community, local
and nationwide, though perhaps not the ones that immediately
come to mind thanks to the media. ReThink Homelessness claims
that 92% of homeless women have faced domestic violence. (3)
NLCPH has a very similar figure of 90%, and a sister figure of 61%
of homeless minors reporting being victims of violent crime. (4) In
light of these statistics, it is clear that the homeless are victims at
much higher rates than the average person. ReThink
Homelessness also claims that, nationwide, 1 in 45 people will be
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homeless at some point in their lives, meaning that odds are,

someone each of us is close to has been or will be homeless. (3)
According to the 2015 PIT (Point in Time) Count (2), the 854
homeless in New Mexico does not count multiple families living in
an unsafe single home situation nor does it count families living in
cheap and often dirty hotels. Therefore, the survey surmises that
there is actually a much greater number of homeless people in
New Mexico on the date the survey was taken than they were
able to count. Thus, this number of 854 should be considered a
low estimate rather than any sort of absolute number. Regardless,
the findings presented in the 2015 PIT Count survey provides a
glimpse as to what may currently be wrong with New Mexicos
efforts to bring an end to the plague of homelessness.
Currently, efforts for ending homelessness in New Mexico
focus primarily on transitional housing for most of its homeless
populationcurrently, permanent housing solutions are only
offered to homeless New Mexicans suffering from chronic mental
illness. (5) While it is admirable that the mentally ill have been
placed as a priority, further steps should be taken both for the
general homeless population, but especially for the large disabled
portion of the homeless demographic. The problem with
transitional housing largely fails to help homeless individuals find
permanent housing no matter where they are. For example,
transitional housing services only manage to graduate less than
one-third (6) of people from transitional to permanent housing.
Another issue is that a person in emergency or transitional shelter
has no guarantee that they will have a bed the coming night or if
they will be left out in the cold because there are none left (7).
This, of course, leads to increased stress that prevents the person
from progressing. Part of the reason this stress prevents the
person from progressing through the transitional housing ranks to
permanent housing is because, as is highlighted by Maslows
Hierarchy of Needs (8), physiological needs such as housing are
absolutely mandatory to a persons wellbeing before they can
progress on to other needs. It is also disproportionately unfair to
those with disabilities and/or mental illness because of their
reduced mobility, increased likelihood of substance abuse, and
decreased odds of finding employmentall factors that play
heavily into their placement within transitional housing.
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Meanwhile, Utahs version of Housing First has managed to

successfully move all but 9% of its chronically homeless
population off the streets for goodand it only took a single
decade. (9) The idea of Housing First is as simple as its name:
give the homeless a place to live, no questions asked, and work
from there. At first glance, this plan may seem absurd. After all,
with a guaranteed place to live, why bother do anything else to
better yourself? The reasons are innumerable and the previously
homeless have latched onto their newfound opportunities with a
vengeance. Some of them, because of the amount of time they no
longer have to spend seeking out shelter for the night or setting
up camp in a tent city now have time to practice art, music, and
other hobbies and passions that were never options before.
Of course, that cannot be the only thing that gets such a
massive project off the ground and pushed through into becoming
reality. The simplest reason Housing First launched was financial:
Its just plain cheaper to give homes to the homeless. Utah was
spending around $20,000 per year per chronically homeless
person within state borders. (9) In order to test the idea, 17
people were placed in homes in 2004. After one year, officials
checked in to see how those people did: 14 of them kept their
homes successfully through the program parameters, the other 3
had died. (10) With the success of this trial run, Utah launched its
statewide version in 2005 and collected results over the next ten
years. It was found that, on average, giving homes to the
chronically homeless saved the state $8,000 per person each year
for a total savings of over $180 million over a ten year span.(9)
The program is not entirely free to the potential tenants, with
each person required to pay either $50 or 30% of their income as
their rentwhichever was the higher dollar amount. In this way,
tenants were encouraged to work in some capacity in order to pay
the bill. This still leaves a large gap in the overall homeless
population, but almost everyone who has spent over a year
homeless, or been homeless four or more times in a three year
period, has been housed with roaring success. (11)

DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
With an annual estimation of 17,000 homeless across New
Mexico (1), our state has a similar number of homeless people to
Utah, meaning that claiming the Housing First initiative would not
work in New Mexico simply because of a difference in population
falls flat. In fact, some strides toward bringing Housing First to our
state have already startedand the findings are similar to Utahs
successes even though New Mexicos research is only in the early
stages. Using a two year snapshot of the test cases lives, one
before being housed and one after, New Mexico has already saved
an average of $900 per person. This is a low number so far, but as
time progresses, that number is almost sure to go up especially
as the disproportionately high ratio of disabled homeless
individuals (12) becomes able to care for themselves, seek out
employment to begin paying for their own care and supplies not
covered by Medicaid, Medicare, or SSRI, and are able to build a
network of others like them who also have been graced with a
newfound ability to improve themselves. (13)

RECOMMENDATION
In light of Utahs success and the early findings in our own
state, I propose the recommendation that the people of New
Mexico band together to demand Housing First be instituted
statewide. The benefits to getting New Mexicos homeless does
not stop at a $900 savings to the state, especially since it means
there would be a drastic change in the number of disabled New
Mexicans currently unable to seek out proper care.
With more people successfully housed, there are more
people able to seek stable employment, more people able to
power the states economy through smarter spending, and much
more. Not the least of these other benefits is being able to
potentially list New Mexico as the second state in the US to all but
eliminate chronic homelessnessor possibly the very first to
eradicate homelessness in generalputting New Mexico on the
map as a powerhouse for change.
But how can the average person in New Mexico help? Email
your legislators, sign petitions, and pledge support.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) About Homelessness. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2016, from
http://www.nmceh.org/pages/homelessness.html
2) 2015 PIT Count. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2016, from
http://www.nmceh.org/pages/reports/ABQ 2015/2015 PIT
Count Report Final April 2015.pdf
3) ReThink Homelessness (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2016, from
http://rethinkhomelessness.org/learn-more-abouthomelessness/more-pages/
4) Housing and Homelessness in the United States of America.
(2014, September 15). Retrieved April 16, 2016, from
https://www.nlchp.org/documents/UPR_Housing_Report_2014
5) Housing Resources. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2016, from
https://www.cabq.gov/family/income-eligibleservices/homeless-services/families
6) Transitional housing faces an uncertain future. (n.d.).
Retrieved April 16, 2016, from http://sdcitybeat.com/article12527-transitional-housing-faces-an-uncertain-future.html
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7) The Emergency and Transitional Shelter Population: 2010.

(n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/reports/c2010sr02.pdf
8) Educational Psychology Interactive: Maslow's hierarchy of
needs. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2016, from
http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/conation/maslow.ht
ml
9) Utah's Strategy for the Homeless: Give Them Homes. (n.d.).
Retrieved April 16, 2016, from
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/utahs-strategyhomeless-give-them-homes-n352966
10)
The surprisingly simple way Utah solved chronic
homelessness and saved millions. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16,
2016, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspiredlife/wp/2015/04/17/the-surprisingly-simple-way-utah-solvedchronic-homelessness-and-saved-millions/
11)
Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness By 91 Percent;
Here's How. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2016, from
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/10/459100751/utah-reducedchronic-homelessness-by-91-percent-heres-how
12)
P., & World, D. (n.d.). People with Disabilities and
Homelessness. Retrieved April 19, 2016, from
http://www.disabled-world.com/editorials/political/disabilityhomeless.php
13)
Homelessness in New Mexico. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/handouts/MFA 080713 Item 1
Homeless Veterans and the Housing First Model.pdf

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