Group 5

Team Members:

Paloma Chapa, Environmental Planner

Paloma is a Community and Regional Planning Major at UNM.

Frank Conte II, Project Manager

Frank is a mechanical engineering major at UNM learning how engineering and planning are related.

Kelly Ore, Community Development Planner

Kelly is a Political Science major at UNM with a focus on addressing social issues and Community Planning.

Trinity-Lynne Williams, Physical Planner

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LOCATION:

Tewa Lodge, near Central and San Mateo (pink dot on below bus route map)

WHAT IS THE ISSUE YOU ARE ADdRESSING?

Our end goals include providing an area of temporary living for people who are currently homeless so they can get back on their feet.

GOALs:

The program at Tewa Lodge will help people in the shelter realize their own goals and potentials as it assesses their options for affordable housing, transition in to and from the facility, and connections to work. The resource center will link participants to other public resources that can assist them in this transition, as well as connecting them to a case worker, also called a Community Health Worker. Some of the overall goals of the program includes bringing jobs to the community, reduction in homelessness and preventing at-risk families from lack of shelter, solutions for waste and litter in the streets by integrating a recycle based exchange program for eligible items brought in by homeless for food, an area for needle drops, and there is consideration for a small thrift area where homeless can get items donated by the community.

Some other goals for this facility include revitalizing the community while also taking into consideration the benefits of using a grey water system to fuel a facility-based garden on the former El Rey property. All these opportunities will be accessible to homeless people who use this facility with the intention to promote access to resources and spread awareness about relevant care management programs throughout the Albuquerque area and Bernalillo county.

We are hoping to incorporate community feedback on this project and hear any concerns that the community might have or be willing to contribute. There is a church just down the street from Tewa lodge where a community meeting could be held for community liaison.

PLAN:

We plan on using a portion of the money from the approved GO Bonds, bonds No. 2 and No. 4. From Bond No. 4, we plan on using a small portion of the million dollars allotted for “City Building Construction, Improvements, and Rehabilitation” and the million allotted for “Roof Repair/Replacement for City Facilities” for our planned roof and related projects. We plan on using approximately $6.3 million from Bond No. 2 to build our facilities and to pay our staff until we receive other funding sources. This leaves approximately $7.7 million from Bond No. 2 for possibly another shelter.

Homelessness has become a major problem within the city of Albuquerque. The city has made many attempts to combat the issue with homelessness. There have been work programs and the city had set up 24-hour service lines for people to call to learn about health care options and shelter. The newest proposal is a 24/7 shelter that will be some type of half-way housing such as a tiny house community or an all hour's shelter. Mayor Keller has proposed around 23 million dollars for the project and hopes to help around 5,000 to 8,000 homeless individuals.

Our group has decided to focus on the women and children of Albuquerque. In New Mexico, 201 families experience homelessness and 10,071 children within public schools experience homelessness. This is a huge problem for the state and needs to be curbed with public projects. The project we have decided will help homeless women and children is a shelter, resource center, and free food program.

The shelter will have a more upscale free dining experience for the residents. We have chosen this because many food programs are structured as cafeterias and not restaurant style dining. This will be a positive experience for the residents. We also want to have a resource center for job hunting, health care, and permanent housing. This will help the older residents and mothers re-enter society safely. The shelter will also offer free clothing to residents, such as, business apparel and children's clothing. Each room will be divided into two rooms for families or roommate situations, as shown in the following picture. The stay for residents will be one to three months depending on situation.

New Mexico has a dry and arid climate. In the desert, where it hardly rains, water is scarce. Pumping groundwater and using it wastefully to water lawns, is not appropriate for the arid climate of New Mexico. Albuquerque should make the most use of any precipitation because it can provide additional water for use in irrigation, and many other purposes. One smooth roof from a 3,000 square foot house, can collect close to 12,000 gallons of water from precipitation in one year. That is a lot of water, just from one house. If the city could gradually make better use of our rains, we could save so much water from our aquifers. Precipitation is a free water source that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Although Grey Water Systems can be effective, they are an expensive way to save water. The water saving strategy we are implementing for the Tewa Lodge Shelter is one that will effectively use precipitation to irrigate the urban garden. Rainwater can also be harvested for indoor use and plumbed into toilets and washing machines. We are also going to use water retention gardens, xeriscaping, and altering of impervious surfaces to ensure maximum storm water is saved and used. The proposed layout of the entire property is as follows:

Xeriscaping mimics the local ecology and therefore we receive the ecosystem services provided by the natural system. Impervious surfaces can also be slanted and directed to a natural rain capturing system that it is not just running off into a drain or evaporating. This is known as Green Infrastructure, which we will try to incorporate as much as possible in our renovation of the Tewa Lodge. The urban planners of this region should consider the scarce water resources when designing Albuquerque’s future infrastructure (i.e. buildings and roads). The implementation of just a few water saving techniques in their designs, will not only make our city greener and cleaner, it will improve the quality of life for all living things.

GROUP 5