Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

County OKs $4.4 million for sobering center

The Gateway Center will offer shelter and services center at the old Lovelace Hospital on Gibson. (Jim Thompson/)

Copyright © 2022

Bernalillo County has bought further into the city of Albuquerque’s planned homeless shelter and services hub, agreeing Tuesday to kick in nearly $4.4 million for a medical sobering center inside what is now called the Gibson Health Hub.

The County Commission approved the appropriation on a 4-1 vote after a broader, and spirited discussion about the county’s use of its behavioral health tax and its partnership with the city. The Gibson Health Hub and Gateway Center in the old Lovelace hospital in Southeast Albuquerque is one of Mayor Tim Keller’s signature projects. City officials say the first phase – including a 50-bed emergency shelter for women – will open this winter, while other elements, including the medical sobering center, should debut next summer. The county’s contribution will go to construction, helping cover half of the estimated $8.7 million needed to build the sobering center and run it for the first year.

“We have such a huge need out in our community, which is why I support the initiative. My concern is we would love to work with the city more; usually it’s only the city asking us for additional resources,” said County Commissioner Walt Benson, who voted with Adriann Barboa, Debbie O’Malley and Steven Michael Quezada to approve the county contribution.

The county’s special, tax-funded Behavioral Health Initiative brought in over $160 million in its first seven years. Only half was fully spent in that span, though other portions have been allocated to future projects. Some have criticized the county for running a haphazard program without a solid plan and a 2021 behavioral health gaps analysis found “no effective collaboration at all levels (of the city and county) to improve the lives of citizens.”

Some commissioners called the sobering center a step in the right direction. Barboa said the community does not care which government entity actually funds a service when it’s needed, adding that there is widespread agreement that this facility is important. O’Malley, meanwhile, noted that 80% of the taxes Bernalillo County collects come from county residents who also live within Albuquerque city boundaries, so it does not make sense to withhold it from city projects.

The city has said the sobering center is expected to open next summer with 20 beds. It is intended as a “short-term drop-off site for appropriate clients encountered in the community who are under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, and are without other acute medical needs,” according to a memo city officials sent the County Commission.

Registered nurses and emergency medical technicians will be on-site 24/7.

Officials believe it will provide a needed alternative for individuals with “moderate acuity intoxication” who instead wind up in emergency rooms or jail.

City and county government staff members brought the request before the commission Tuesday, noting that it had been vetted by a community-based steering committee that helps guide Behavioral Health Initiative spending.

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Gilbert Ramirez of the city’s Family and Community Services Department said there are about 40 medical sobering centers across the country, but none in New Mexico.

“It allows you a space to get sober in a medical oversight environment and return … to society and hopefully with many of those clients, there’s an opportunity there for change and access into services,” Ramirez said Tuesday.

Commissioner Charlene Pyskoty cast the lone vote against the funding, citing community concerns about the BHI described in a recent Journal story and her own difficulty as a commissioner getting clear information about BHI. She said she was told earlier this year that all the BHI money was tied up and there was none left, but learned after asking in an August meeting that there was $32 million available for such projects as the sobering center. She said the BHI needed to be more transparent and that she shared others’ fear that the county was running a piecemeal operation.

“It’s a significant amount of money,” Pyskoty said of the sobering center allocation. “I’m concerned it’s not just going to become another piece of that patchwork.”

But Quezada fired back against criticism that the county was operating willy-nilly, blaming former New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez for creating a behavioral health services void in New Mexico and leaving entities like the county to pick up the pieces.

“We had a great system in place and it was destroyed; now, we’re going to spend the next 20 years trying to figure that out and fix it,” he said.

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