'Keep your head up': Unhoused people, advocates address concerns at International District Library

Jun. 22—Some six months ago, Mahad Ahmed said he was living in a Downtown apartment with a steady job when he was fired.

"It wasn't long when I was evicted," he told the Journal.

He then started staying at Jerry Cline Park, where he said he felt safe and had access to water and a bathroom.

"That's as good as life gets when you're outside," Ahmed said. "It's surviving."

Ahmed thought he would be homeless for a month or two. Instead, it's been several months and he is looking to get a job, a cellphone, replace a Social Security card and "get back to the drawing board."

He called the experience "eye-opening" and "shocking."

Ahmed was one of about 20 people who attended an Albuquerque Human Rights Board hearing at the International District Library on Saturday to address the rights of people experiencing homelessness, anti-homeless sentiment and discrimination based on housing status.

He and several others took their concerns about being homeless to the board, with some expressing fear about being attacked or having things taken from them, like Bonnie Reeders, who said a thief stole her parents' ashes.

People on the street need to have friends to watch out for them, said Arron Esquibel, who is also unhoused.

Bernalillo County Community Health Council Executive Director Enrique Cardial said he attended the hearing "because the situation with our neighbors that don't have addresses is a health issue."

"It's something we don't address as a public health issue," he said. "We address is it as a criminal issue, generally, and sometimes as a sad story, but in reality it is a public health issue."

First National Community HealthSource team member Adam Litster said some think people are homeless only because they had traumatic experiences that led them to drugs and mental illnesses. But there are those who are homeless for other reasons such as being evicted due to not being able to pay rent, which leaves them uncertain on what's next.

Esquibel said while he is looking for work, he is becoming frustrated.

"I want to relapse," he said. "I want just want to forget myself. I don't know what to do."

Cardial proposed a few ideas for the city to consider, ranging from creating affordable housing "without loopholes" to "improving outdoor encampment situations that exist."

Albuquerque has a chance to build a healthier city, but it is "choosing to throw that out the window by not taking care of the people who need the most support," he said.

Human Rights Board Vice Chairman Jack Champagne told the Journal that the stories shared about homelessness in Albuquerque paints a "pretty bleak picture" of the conditions of homelessness and unhoused people's "prospects of escaping those conditions."

"I think the city should take notice to see where it is failing those people and how to upgrade (its) services," Champagne said.

At its meeting next month, the board will consider recommending to the city that it update its hate crimes ordinance to include someone's housing status.

And for those living outside, Ahmed said: "Keep your head up."