Housing complex sees two overdose deaths in one day in late August

Sep. 20—A low-cost housing complex launched during the pandemic to help ease homelessness in Santa Fe saw two overdose deaths within just a few hours of each other one Saturday late last month.

Timmy Bailey and Bryan Watchman, who lived in separate apartments at Santa Fe Suites, both died Aug. 24 from suspected opioid overdose, according to reports provided by Santa Fe police.

Police arrived at the complex shortly after 9 a.m. and found 60-year-old Bailey deceased. He was in a sitting position, with his feet on the floor, "hunched over a metal glass pipe," officers wrote in a report.

Less than two hours later, officers wrote, they entered Watchman's apartment and found him dead in a chair. A medical examiner determined his death appeared to have been caused by "an accidental overdose," noting several pieces of burned aluminum foil found in the apartment, police wrote.

The two incidents highlight a deadly trend — victims of opioid overdoses who have died while using the drug alone.

Whether the deaths indicate a larger problem at Santa Fe Suites — which began under a public-private partnership between a nonprofit and the city of Santa Fe — is not as clear. The complex, a former hotel, was purchased in part with federal COVID-19 relief funds and operates under a supportive housing model, in which tenants are able to receive needed services on site.

Some residents and workers at businesses in the neighborhood say drug use and trafficking, as well as other crimes, have increased in the area since the complex opened as a transitional housing facility, and they question whether it provides enough security.

Advocates say, however, there just aren't enough services to go around when it comes to a growing demand for addiction treatment — a problem that reaches far beyond Santa Fe Suites.

"It's scary," said resident KrisAnn Tafoya, referring to the two recent overdose deaths that rocked the apartment complex. However, she noted, drugs are "everywhere" and she thinks it is wrong to "point the finger at the suites."

"The ones that I know that are dealers, I don't see them coming in here or people flocking to them," she said. "I don't see them trying to push their stuff on anybody. ... I think it could happen here, just like it could happen across the street at the Albertsons parking lot."

Santa Fe Suites has more than 120 units for low-income tenants. About half of the units are occupied by people who previously were homeless and the other half are rented at market rate, said Ericka Kidd, a program manager for the local nonprofit St. Elizabeth Shelters, which offers services at Santa Fe Suites.

The "mixed income" housing model comes with its own challenges, she said, such as the struggle to keep someone housed and on the road to recovery, while neighbors may get fed up with "certain behaviors" associated with addiction or mental illness.

But she called the complex a community.

"You can't just hole up in a place here and smoke fentanyl," Kidd said. "We are a community that takes care of one another."

Fentanyl 'a huge issue'

Kidd pointed to a lack of treatment providers in the area, along with an abundance of toxic and addictive fentanyl. The drug is "a huge issue," not just in Santa Fe but across the country, and has "changed the face of homelessness," she said.

She declined to comment specifically on drug overdoses at the complex.

Kidd manages workers who help guide tenants toward treatment for addiction and other behavioral health issues; there are constant waitlists for recovery services, she said.

"There needs to be a place for these folks, not at the suites but in general," she said. "There needs to be more options for individuals struggling with fentanyl."

Edward Archuleta, executive director of St. Elizabeth Shelters, said fentanyl overdoses are "nothing unique to [Santa Fe] Suites" but "happening all over town" — in houses, apartments, on the streets and in alleyways.

Tafoya, who has lived at the complex for about three years, said she has seen the effects of fentanyl. "I know people that I do consider friends who weren't smoking it when I first got here, and I just see the change in them. It's awful. It's ugly."

Frequent police presence

Anita Jenkins, a resident who has lived at Santa Fe Suites for several years, said she believes drug dealing and drug use recently have increased there.

"They let people in who shouldn't be here, and it takes them months to get them out," Jenkins said. She also claimed security has been pared down in recent years.

Drug use isn't the only problem Santa Fe Suites has faced.

Santa Fe police were called there at least 21 times in the first two weeks of September, according to reports. Complaints varied: suspicious people, domestic violence and assault; officers also were called with requests for close patrols and welfare checks.

On Friday afternoon, three Santa Fe police vehicles responded to an apparent incident in a parking lot near Santa Fe Suites.

The complex is owned by the New York-based nonprofit Community Solutions and managed by American Management Co. of Albuquerque.

Dave Foster, manager of Community Solutions' Large Cities Housing Fund, said in a statement Friday the nonprofit is aware of concerns, but added, "the tenants potentially engaging in illegal activity are a small minority."

"To keep our community safe," he said, "we have a combination of standing guards and patrols that actively monitor the site throughout the week and weekends — including nights — in addition to security cameras throughout the site that are actively monitored by our security company."

Security has not been pared down, Foster added.

With a mission to provide affordable housing for low-income people and those who have experienced homelessness, he said, the facility is a "low-barrier community, meaning there are fewer requirements for a tenant to obtain housing."

Still, he said, "there are strict and consistent screening practices in place for all new tenants. After a tenant has moved in, if we become aware of any illegal activity we pursue noncompliance litigation based on the terms in our lease and local, state, and federal laws, which can and has led to an eviction in some cases. Additionally, when we receive concerns from residents about other residents, we immediately alert the security team for them to monitor the situation, and/or call the local police department to complete a proper investigation if it is appropriate."

Businesses feel effects

The city announced an agreement with Community Solutions in November 2020 that included funneling $2 million in pandemic relief funds toward the purchase of the property. A month later, several commercial property owners filed a lawsuit aiming to halt the project.

If it were to move forward, the suit stated, "it will irreparably and permanently alter the nature of the current use of the property ... and impact the value of the surrounding properties."

Court records show the parties agreed to a stipulated dismissal of the lawsuit without prejudice in 2021, meaning it could be refiled.

Workers in the local business community said the neighborhood has changed since the housing complex opened.

Katryna Smith, a manager at the Papa Murphy's pizza restaurant in a nearby shopping center, said she doesn't always feel safe working at the store now.

"It's changed who we have around here," she said of the complex. "We've had robberies. We've had so many things we didn't have before. We don't feel safe here a lot of the time. ... There's definitely drugs everywhere."

"There's a bunch of drug use, up and down," said Usiel Rojas, an employee at a Subway. "It's awful. They stand right there, sit and get high."

'The model is good'

Santa Fe Suites "doesn't run perfectly," Kidd said, but "the model is good."

A similar motel conversion for transitional or low-cost supportive housing has been underway for years at a site on Cerrillos Road. Bella Luz, at the former site of the Lamplighter Inn, has been stalled in large part due to a complicated stream of public funding. The project calls for support services run by the nonprofit group The Life Link.

Kidd said the supportive housing model "takes a really solid partnership between property management and the support services."

"We're able to work together and do things that give people a little extra support in dealing with things that they would otherwise just be kicked out for," she added.

An eviction on someone's record can have ramifications for five to 10 years, she said, especially when it comes to federal housing vouchers — often critical aid to keep someone in a home.

Archuleta said homelessness is driven by a lack of affordable housing, substance abuse and mental health issues.

"Those are the three main issues where people end up homeless, and often they're all combined," he said. "People have mental health issues and then self-medicate by using drugs and alcohol. So our job is to try to get them off of that and lead a normal, healthy life."

The first step, he said, is to make sure someone has housing.

When Tafoya first moved into the complex, she said, she slept outside. It was what she had become accustomed to after experiencing homelessness for 17 years. She recounted Friday how her life has changed since then, recalling how a case manager encouraged her to "pump the brakes."

Lacey said she has sought to "dig deep" and "slow down and appreciate" herself. She feels safe at the apartment complex, she said.