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DEMING 鈥� More than 20 people turned up for a no-questions-asked free community lunch Friday at the Silver Linings resource center.

A team of volunteers handed out disposable containers filled with spaghetti and garlic bread from a sweltering shed as guests lined up at a front counter. Others relaxed at picnic tables on the property, some accompanied by pet dogs.

For eight years, the nonprofit co-founded and led by Margaret Fairman has served food, operated a thrift store and offered resources for people lacking housing, such as spare clothing, laundry facilities and showers. Its center of operations is one block away from Deming鈥檚 historic downtown.

Over the last several years, Deming 鈥� a city of 15,000 people in a county with double-digit unemployment 鈥� has been addressing a growing community of unhoused people. Church groups and volunteers have stepped up to help stranded travelers and feed the hungry.

Silver Linings has partnered with Supporting People In Need (SPIN) to provide other services but does not offer housing.

There is no systematic census of how many unhoused people are in Deming, partly because people who don鈥檛 have a place to live are not necessarily publicly visible.

A 2025 ,  as reported by the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, estimated 2,960 people were on the streets of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 as of Jan. 25, 2025, compared to 1,723 in the rest of the state.

The report cautioned, however, that the availability of volunteers, resources and local conditions throughout the state made an accurate count difficult.

While it is likely an undercount, the PIT estimate has consistently tracked a growing number of people without shelter over the years, and this doesn't count everyone in need of secure housing. 

Silver Linings produced a survey in 2023 in which dozens of city businesses said homelessness and related problems had worsened, with a majority calling on the city and Luna County to implement solutions. Yet local political leaders have been ambivalent and .

Recently, both the city and Silver Linings have brought in outside funding to address the issue from different angles.

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., secured $440,000 in an appropriations bill passed in February for Silver Linings, through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to support emergency stopgap housing.

The grant, with funding Silver Linings had raised on its own and with SPIN, will secure a permanent facility for both organizations at a commercial location away from downtown, near Deming鈥檚 commercial loop and the police department.

Pending inspections and approval for Silver Linings and SPIN to pool their HUD support, Fairman said the building will be renovated to include a commercial kitchen, serving areas and classrooms, the thrift store and various other services.

City proposal shifts

Meanwhile, the city of Deming recently announced it has changed previously announced plans for a bold transitional housing project that had been applauded by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham at the end of 2022.

The governor鈥檚 office had included Deming in a $10.6 million tranche of funds for transitional housing projects statewide. Deming was awarded $2.5 million to purchase and renovate the historic Balboa Motel and Restaurant in order to offer 26 units of transitional housing and supportive services.

City Manager Aaron Sera said at the time that the project would offer people in need 鈥渁 place that they can get settled down, get some support and learn how to get back out and get their own housing.鈥�

The city purchased the property for $332,500 the following October. But two and a half years later, the hotel and restaurant were demolished and the city announced in a May news release that the site is being 鈥渞eimagined as a welcoming community-centered space designed to beautify the heart of Deming and create opportunities for residents, families, local businesses, and visitors to enjoy.鈥�

The release said a community survey drawing 170 responses expressed support for other uses of the property, such as space for vendors and food trucks, a youth center, retail space or other uses. The city reported that 6% of the respondents, which would be approximately 10 individuals, supported a homeless shelter or public toilet and shower facilities at the location.

Sera told the Journal in an email that, while the Balboa Motel initially seemed like a viable location for transitional housing, the city later projected it could not be accomplished on a $2.5 million budget.

鈥淭hrough stakeholder meetings and community conversations, it became evident that homelessness, while an important concern, is only one part of a broader housing challenge,鈥� Sera wrote. 鈥淲e also recognized that operating a comprehensive homelessness services campus requires a level of capacity and resources that our community is still working to build.鈥�

Sera said the state had approved a new proposal for the grant funds, with $250,000 supporting a county-led transitional housing project and the rest used to purchase a subdivision valued at $1.8 million off of N.M. 418 on Deming鈥檚 west side 鈥� three miles from downtown.

This development, near three public schools, would build 鈥渁n economically diverse neighborhood that addresses multiple layers of local housing needs,鈥� Sera wrote, including step-up housing for alumni of the county鈥檚 transitional housing program.

The state Department of Finance and Administration, which oversees the Casa Connections grant, did not confirm whether the new project had been approved. The Governor鈥檚 Office did not comment.

鈥淥f course, we were disappointed that what we saw as progress wasn鈥檛 going to happen,鈥� Fairman said of the original project. 鈥淏ut I鈥檒l give them the benefit of the doubt. 鈥� I鈥檓 still highly optimistic.鈥�

Algernon 顿鈥橝尘尘补蝉蝉补 is the Journal鈥檚 southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.