Angry residents demand removal of the city’s homeless encampment
byMolly Montgomery
Española residents and officials are at a deadlock. On a dusty bank of the Rio Grande, about 30 unhoused people live in limbo — waiting for resolution as the city vacillates between evicting them and allowing them to remain in their tent community.
Though authorities have bowed to the wishes of angry townspeople — and say they will soon shut down the encampment — the unhoused people have refused to leave, and Police Chief Mizel Garcia says his officers will not intervene. He says he refuses to “criminalize homelessness.”
To date, there has been no action or official word about how or when the tent residents will be forced out.
The threatened upheaval has created panic among the tent dwellers. Few, if any, know where they will go next. They’re afraid of losing their belongings and worry that their families and friends will no longer be able to find them.
The city’s only homeless shelter is overflowing, and many local residents are hostile and even violent toward them.
“I feel so lost,” said Matthew Duran, who shares a tent with his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s aunt. “I have no idea where I’m going to go.”
Until February, Duran and many of the other homeless people here were living on Ohkay Owingeh land behind the Walmart on Española’s main road. After the Pueblo cleared that encampment, the city, with assistance from Rio Arriba County and Española Pathways Shelter, moved them to a plot of land off Fairview Lane. Local officials offered them basic services, such as toilets, trash pickup and needle exchanges.
Española officials initially said they would close the encampment in early April, but time passed and they allowed the residents to stay. The encampment seemed to have improved some of the city’s most glaring problems, lowering the volume of emergency calls and reducing the amount of trash on city property. But with the arrival of spring rains, the swelling river began to endanger the tent community and passersby harassed and physically threatened its residents. The people living there say that city officials assured them they would be relocated to another plot of land.
Local resentment and harassment
Whatever promise may have been made fell apart after a town hall on May 16. Dozens of Española residents and taxpayers attended, many expressing deep anger about crime and drug use among the homeless population. They complained that law enforcement was inadequate and demanded that the city disband the encampment.
“Three weeks ago, my partner had a gun pulled on her face, trying to get someone out of our property,” said Linette Campos, who lives near the encampment. “Two weeks ago, the house right next to us got broken into. A week ago, they started a huge fire behind my house with an explosion.”
Attendees shouted out that the homeless people should be bused to other cities or states, though authorities say that most of them were born and raised in northern New Mexico. When one speaker threatened to take up arms if the tent residents broke into his house, audience members cheered.
“I’m all for getting rid of the homeless here,” said Buddy Espinosa, owner of Dandy Burger in Española. “As long as we keep supporting them, they’re gonna keep coming, they’re gonna keep coming, they’re gonna keep coming.”
Eight days after the meeting, Española announced it would close the encampment within a week. City Manager Eric Lujan said that telling the encampment residents to leave was one of the hardest things he’s done. “I’ve been working with these people since I placed them in this encampment,” he said. “The help they were getting, it was working.”
‘This is what we go through’
The locals’ threats to take up arms aren’t empty. Tent residents have endured months of near-constant harassment from drivers crossing the bridge just north of the encampment. A reporter and photographer from Searchlight New Mexico witnessed it firsthand one quiet afternoon in April.
The river rolled by as some people napped in their tents and others returned from their jobs. A “Do Not Disturb Sign” hung in front of one tent, and a heart with the word “Love” dangled over another. Dogs lounged in the sun. A rainbow hammock swung in the breeze.
Then a gunshot, fired from the bridge, exploded the quiet.
“This is what we go through,” said Dee Martinez, barely glancing up at the sound. Martinez, who was born in Española, became homeless more than two decades ago after leaving a violent partner. Since moving to the encampment in February, she has found a job cleaning building sites.
Encampment residents report that drivers throw ice, rocks and fireworks at them, sometimes at night when people are sleeping.
“Get a job!” someone now shouted out a car window. “Go home,” another driver yelled.
Cities vary in their approach to homelessness
Homelessness has grown sharply across New Mexico, as it has everywhere in the country. From 2022 to 2023, according to a U.S. government study, the state’s homeless population grew from around 2,500 to 3,800; precise figures are notoriously difficult to calculate and these numbers are likely underestimations.
Cities are taking starkly different approaches to the problem. In the past year, Albuquerque has been bulldozing encampments and tossing out people’s treasured possessions. Las Cruces for over a decade has maintained an encampment where people can access water, food, bathrooms, mental health treatment and safe places to sleep. And this spring, Santa Fe opened a village of tiny houses with case management and employment services.
By opening the encampment by the Rio Grande, promising people a long-term place to stay, and then evicting them, Española seems to be occupying an awkward middle ground. There are well over 150 unhoused people in the city, according to City Manager Lujan, and that number is increasing — largely due to a lack of affordable housing and the ongoing opioid epidemic.
If the camp closes, harm reduction workers from Rio Arriba County and El Centro Family Health say they may no longer be able to locate and treat clients. One of those clients is Matthew Duran, who lost his house and his job in 2019 after he broke his back in a car accident. Doctors overprescribed oxycodone for his back pain, he said, and when they abruptly cut him off from the drug, he turned to heroin and eventually fentanyl.
Duran has applied for numerous jobs — and has been repeatedly turned away. It’s a Catch-22: To afford a home he needs a job, to get a job he needs a home. At least here, he has a place to sleep. He also receives clean needles and basic medical care.
“By just ending the encampment without much of a plan in place, that can hurt the town, and that can feed into the concerns that the community members are already having,” said Dena Moscola, executive director of Española Pathways Shelter. “When there’s an encampment, people can receive services, they can get to treatment, they can get to the hospital, they can get food. They can get to what it takes to stay alive.”
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Molly Montgomery
Molly Montgomery is a freelance writer from Santa Fe. She covered Rio Arriba County and agricultural issues at the Rio Grande Sun in Española, where she received a New Mexico Press Association award for best environmental/agricultural reporting. She's especially interested in New Mexican land politics and the state's legal system.
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14 Comments
How could the people with Apts or homes treat the homeless people so bad? You can’t lump all of the homeless into one category of ( losers, drug addicts, or just being lazy ). There’s lots of different reasons for being homeless. This is a State that voted for Joe Biden, for the most part. Well, you’re seeing the result of what the Democrats bring to the table right now! The country can’t even take care of its own, much less the men, women, and children that are pouring across our Southern Border. Democrats need to Wake Up! The Government doesn’t care about you. They don’t care about Conservatives. They care Only about themselves, and putting as much money into their own pockets as they can. This is Joe Bidens country, for now. And the people who voted him in are experiencing the repercussions of that bad decision. You wanted him, you’ve got him, for now.
Homeless people need help in lots of areas of life. But it’s a little tough starting at the Bottom of the barrel, and I can say this because I have been their. It’s NO fun, and almost impossible to escape from? If you want this country to succeed and move on from Joe’s world you better vote Trump come November 5th. The mean Orange Man will get us back on track.Loading...
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You are absolutely correct on your statement GPRice. I’ve lived in Espanola for over 30 years and never seen it this bad. Beggers on every freaking corner daily. I feel very threatened to even go to a store by myself because I get overwhelmed by addicts and beggers. After Biden open our borders our governor is a disgrace as she allows really messed up people from lunie bend house infect our streets. As for city of espanola or county they never follow through with anything unless it lines their pockets. They don’t enforce they’re laws to stop the madness and protect it’s citizens. Instead they allow addicts to use anywhere and actually encourage them to keep using.
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This is a bunch of bullsh*t! The majority of the people that are homeless in espanola are addicted to some heavy drug. It’s a minority community,so there for the city officials or the state doesn’t care what really happens to anyone. It’s easier for the authorities to just let it be, because it makes their job easier. This is why this city of espanola is the way it is because everything is being condoned, instead of getting rid of the problems. The court system is messed up there,the medical care, a lot of the families. It’s disgusting and very sad, because nobody is breaking the cycle. This is why the drug problem and the homeless rates are so high, because again they are allowing it. It’s sad because it’s being passed down through generation after generation. Nobody cares, because it’s Hispanic and Native American people, so they figure that it’s just one less minority they have to worry about, because eventually they will either die or commit suicide or get killed. The community needs to stand together and take it to the capital of New Mexico and voice there opinions and how all this is corrupting the city of Espanola. Even though we are minorities,we are still priorities. Your not helping any of these people. You are enabling them. I lived in Espanola for a year and I used to love it when I would pass through or go to the Santuario. That was the reason I moved there, because I only seen everything for a brief visit,but when I moved there and would see my people homeless or walking the streets all drugged up was very sad for me. I would go to the school to pick my child up and that was a sad sight to see as well, because you had grandparents and I mean older folks picking up their grandkids, because parents were so lost on the drugs and the grandparents would be raising these kids,but the parents would still be receiving all the government assistance. It didn’t matter where you would go it was a shame and such disrespect. I had to move. It’s depressing to see this. You don’t really want to eat anywhere there because now they are hiring all the junkies and you don’t know what they could have. Your afraid to stop and put gas or use public restrooms, because you don’t know who has been there. Come on think about the sickness from hepatitis to aids! Seriously someone needs to take a stand and clean up the city. These people get so high they sleep around and who knows what they are passing around to others. All the rehab programs are jokes as well. It’s just another way to get funding for the state and counties. I have no pity for any of these people on drugs or who are homeless. Remember everyone God gives us choices in life and all the people who are homeless or on drugs chose that lifestyle. It’s easier for all of them, because then they don’t have bills to pay and they will have for their next fix and they have it easy because they know grandparents are not going to abandon their grandkids and they have the food stamps in their possession and there for they don’t go hungry. It’s bullsh*t and something needs to change, because if not. Espanola is going to turn to a sh*t hole ghost town. It’s sad how people can destroy God’s beautiful creations.
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You are telling the truth about the homeless they absolutely ruined my community in sandiego California. The anger of Espanola residents is understandable. Get rid of the homeless or else.
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So many empty n abandoned buildings in town, these buildings couldn’t be used to house the homeless.
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Wow all these people in españa I thought that they were family and they want these people to go away why don’t they pay for their housing if they want them to go away so they could stop complaining and I bet you they wouldn’t like that would they you know all these people they complain and complain about people being homeless what if it was them and I bet you they wouldn’t complain then but why can’t they help them instead of complaining and having people threaten them and make them feel like if they’re nobody you know it’s like this town has gone to s***
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Thank you for this thorough report. I am disturbed by the inhumanity displayed by my neighbors in Española. Like it or not, for good and for bad, the homeless were and still are our neighbors too. We need to have real solutions to this problem. Not just driving them out of town. because it is a national crisis being worsened by forces beyond individual people’s control. The closure of Santa Claran apartments which drove many residents into homelessness is such a clear example of that. Are those town hall attendees ignorant of this or do they simply not care? Regardless, anyone threatening to abuse and murder the homeless poses a greater threat to the community than most of the people in that camp. How someone can make those kinds of threats and not be interrogated by police on the spot is beyond me. And the city is going to give into this mob? Maybe relocate the encampment for safety reasons but to simply break them up would be cruel and unhelpful; possibly an abuse of their civil rights too.
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If the homeless are getting services from the city and county for free they shouldn’t be in the streets and parking lots asking people for money.
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Oh the poor poor POOR “unhoused”. The reason they are unhoused is because they have lied to, verbally abused, physically attacked, stolen from, and have taken advantage of EVERYONE in their lives who have loved them and have tried to help. These poor poor poor “unhoused” refuse to take care of their mental health conditions OR addictions. They cannot maintain a job or attend school due to their lack of responsibility to pay rent , contribute to the household, or even keep the homes that they once had clean. They are ENCOURAGED to neglect any responsibility for themselves by a society that insists on making excuses regarding why they difecate on private or commercial property, leave garbage piled up in neighborhoods and run naked and sick down the streets where we all must witness during their meth or fentanyl episodes. These poor poor “unhoused” make victims of the communities that they exploit and destroy. I’m done making excuses for their illnesses. They must start taking responsibility or move the hell along. Because I don’t want to see them on my street!
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I think we all have compassion for our fellow Americans! It’s not a matter of trying to make us feel like we don’t have compassion because we want our city cleaned up! I don’t blame the homeless I blame our government and the people who keep voting Democrat Democrat, Democrat, and expecting to get more and more entitlements! What do you think when you keep handing people stuff for free over generations the kids have no ambition. They have no drive to get better or to get ahead or to even get out of Espanola! Yeah, this whole state is going down the tubes really quickly lowest and education lowest in Income, Lowest all all around and everything we don’t rank number one in anything when is gonna get home with some of the New Mexicans I’m very curious? And stop blaming people that want to live in a clean community! That’s why we pay taxes! The main purpose of our government is to take care of it, citizens with housing healthcare education, and it keeps failing epically every single time, but we keep sending our money out of the country to other countries to help their people enough is enough
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I agree with Deanne Ibarra Rivera because she’s telling the truth. The homeless are not hapless victims of circ*mstances but willful drug addicts and criminals who like a deadly plague bring death, misery, trash, crime and totally destroy the communities quality of life. Believe me I know this because homelessness destroyed my community in sandiego ca.
The rage felt by Espanola residents is totally understandable.Loading...
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Homelessness is criminal when they are doing illegal drugs, being a public nuisance, littering and destroying property. If any of the rest of us did this we would be fined and or arrested. Being homeless does not give you a free pass to break the law. Its not right for those of us who work hard to have our homes trashed and are made to feel unsafe in our own homes. If the city doesn’t remove the encampments then they should be reasonable for paying the residents rents and mortgages. Why should we pay just to have our neighborhoods trashed.
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The facts are that homeless individuals are hundreds of times more likely to commit a crime than the average citizen. Substance abuse is the largest cause of homelessness. Drugs account for gang activity. Drug activity is linked to cartel activity, drug trafficking and human trafficking. Nothing about drugs and homelessness is good, will lead to good or should be tolerated in any form.
I am confused as to why people are condoning and normalizing homelessness. I am confused as to why society had shifted to defending the rights of grown adults who have made wrong choices and bad decisions in their lives, over hard working citizens (who pay taxes that go towards programs for the homeless) and especially the children of Espanola who have a right to a clean, safe and drug free city in which to live.
I feel an incredible amount of sympathy for the homeless.
I feel more sympathy for the families, especially the children, who have to witness grown adults doing drugs right out in the open, grown adults having disturbing mental episodes, who are dangerous to themselves and the public, and I feel sorry for all the kids who cannot ride their bikes or play outside because their neighborhoods are unsafe.New Mexico has received more than $16 million dollars from the Department of Housing and Urban Development Continuum of Care Program to help fund homeless programs.
I would like to challenge all the defenders of the “unhoused” to start holding their elected officials accountable! Use their passion to get rehab facilities built so that these sick individuals get the help they need, rather than be proponents of encampments that do nothing but destroy the lives of those living in them and those who are forced to live near them.
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Well there is a lot of work yo be done in the City and they have money. Why don’t they hire them? I see wasted potential and manpower
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