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City Council earmarks $2.9 million in opioid settlement money for sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Community Safety
sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Community Safety headquarters, pictured in July. The City Council on Monday approved distributing $2.9 million in opioid settlement money to the department for its street outreach program and housing navigation services.
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The City Council unanimously voted to distribute $2.9 million in opioid settlement money to sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Community Safety鈥檚 street outreach program and housing navigation services Monday night.
This appropriation is just one of many to come as sa国际传媒官网网页入口 receives a steady drip of funding from a $1 billion settlement agreement between New Mexico and pharmaceutical companies that made or sold addictive narcotic painkillers in the state.
Starting in the 1990s, the over-prescription of addictive painkillers created the opioid crisis that tore across the country and continues today with the illicit sale and use of synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
ACS outreach is one solution to that problem and officials said they鈥檙e beginning to see results.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 in theory, this is in practice,鈥� said ACS Director Jodie Esquibel. 鈥淲e see this working.鈥�
ACS helps divert emergency calls from police to trained social workers and other unarmed responders. While ACS often responds to crises, it also does proactive outreach to help those living on the streets apply for housing and substance use treatment programs.
The housing navigation program, which currently has two dedicated staffers, has a 78% success rate in getting people off the streets and into housing, according to a city news release. Esquibel said that the program, which has existed for roughly six months, has gotten 62 people into stable housing.
The $2.9 million was earmarked for crisis response services as well as housing stability efforts such as eviction prevention. For those with nowhere else to go, ACS will coordinate payment of overdue rent to keep people from getting evicted, or settle a tenant鈥檚 outstanding debt with other landlords. And to remove financial barriers, ACS can also pay for first or last month鈥檚 rent and security deposit to get keys in hands.
The resolution was sponsored by Councilors Nichole Rogers, Ren茅e Grout and Joaqu铆n Baca.
The money is for two different groups of people, $1 million will go toward street outreach to help people who are currently homeless and struggling with substance use, while $1.9 million is for people who are still housed, but struggling to balance rent and treatment.
With funds for eviction prevention, Rogers hopes that more people will be able to take steps toward recovery without fear of becoming homeless.
Meanwhile, Lindsay Fox, a physician assistant and director of the University of New Mexico鈥檚 street medicine team, applauded the appropriation.
鈥淎s a provider on the street who鈥檚 sat on the curb with folks struggling with substance use disorder, I鈥檝e really been able to see the synchronicity that ACS navigators, along with our teams, can really affect change in our constituents and our neighbors,鈥� Fox said.
