Last month, the Albuquerque City Council voted to pass ordinances O-24-56 and O-24-58, which prohibit camping in tents or any other structure intended for spending the night in parks and public spaces.
During a city council meeting on Dec. 16, 2024, O-24-56 passed on a 6-3 vote and O-24-58 passed on a 5-4 vote. Some public commenters expressed concerns about how the ordinances would impact Albuquerque’s unhoused population.
Both bills were sponsored by city councilor Renée Grout, who represents District 9. Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller did not sign either bill but did not exercise his veto power, meaning both bills went into effect.
According to O-24-56, the purpose of the ordinance is to “preserve the environmental features of the City, allow more efficient park refuse collection, more effective and unhampered custodial care of the premises, and protect the health and welfare of the citizens of the City.”
The purpose of O-24-58 is to “prevent harm to the health and safety of the public and to promote the health, safety and welfare of the City by keeping streets, sidewalks and other public property clear of encampments and to prevent the use of public property in a manner that interferes with the rights of others to use the areas for their intended purposes,” the ordinance reads.
Violators of O-24-56 will be subject to the City’s general penalty, which is a fine not more than $500, imprisonment for no longer than 90 days, or both, “unless a different specific penalty is provided,” according to § 1-1-99.
Grout introduced O-24-56 by telling meeting attendees that it was about all citizens of Albuquerque.
“There are 560,000 people that live in Albuquerque; there are about 1% or 5,000 people that live on the streets, and that’s very sad to me — that’s 5,000 too many,” Grout said. “We spend a lot of money trying to help these people … I also know that we have to listen to everybody in our city.”
Public comment took place before each ordinance was voted on.
During public comment for O-24-56, Alicia Robinson-Welsh said the bill “effectively criminalizes any citizen who does not have a home to go to tonight.”
Steven Holman, who publicly commented in favor of O-24-56, said that both bills would help make parks and open space safer for children, families, pet owners and communities.
Public commenter Sarah TevisTownes spoke against O-24-58.
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“Just because people complain about the tents, doesn’t mean that the people in the tents are actually dangerous,” she said. “The goal should be actual safety, not the perception of it.”
Albuquerque resident Deandre Littlepage lives in a tent near Uptown. Littlepage said he’s been trying to get “help and housing” from Albuquerque Community Safety, a City department composed of behavioral health first responders.
“They just haven’t been able to help me,” he said. “It’s just been a struggle and it's getting cold out there; a lot of people are dying.”
Littlepage spoke to the Daily Lobo at Target, where he said he was looking for a blanket for his tent and a baby bottle for his puppies, Forty and Cripp.
“I just pray that they just help us before they try to remove (my tent) and get us housing vouchers for a hotel or something,” Littlepage said.
Littlepage said the police usually come early in the morning to make him move his tent.
“Just put us into apartments, so we can be off the streets,” he said. “It's hard for us to even get off drugs if we don't have a place to lay our head.”
Leila Chapa is the social media editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on X @paloma_chapa88
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
