Heath HaussamenMy goodness, the outrage is boiling in New Mexico right now. The governor is at war with her own party’s lawmakers for killing her crime bills and using rhetoric we’re accustomed to hearing from MAGA Republicans.
In Española, there’s a heated fight over an encampment for unhoused people the city started and now is trying to break up. Valencia County cleared an encampment on the same the day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled such action constitutional.
And in Las Cruces, some on social media are discussing trying to recall Mayor Pro Tem Johana Bencomo for voting against two ordinances targeting unhoused people, while others are talking about ousting Councilors Becki Graham and Cassie McClure over their votes in favor of the ordinances.
The temperature has been high ever since Las Cruces Police Officer Jonah Hernandez was stabbed to death in February. Councilors and the mayor have been under immense pressure to do something.
Shopping carts have become the flashpoint. Unhoused people have been using them to transport and store their belongings. In the winter, I’ve also seen people using them to transport pallets to desert camp sites for bonfires.
On Monday, after months of debate, councilors voted 4-3 to require business owners to secure their carts or face potential fines and the loss of business licenses. Those who are in possession of shopping carts that aren’t theirs can also be fined or jailed. After an education period, the city plans to hand out citations for stealing carts — which, to be clear, was illegal even before this ordinance passed.
The Council also amended an ordinance that had been ruled partially unconstitutional. It aims to curb panhandling in medians.
Two days after the Council’s votes, Mesilla Valley Community of Hope, the hub of the city’s services for the unhoused, posted a photo of a woman with her belongings spread out on pavement. “Yesterday a business approached this woman, threw all of her belongings on the street and took the cart back to their business (they don’t want to get fined even though the ordinance is not yet in effect),” the post stated.
This was entirely predictable. Policymakers enacted a law that pits businesses and unhoused folks against each other.
This is not how government should act.
Government has the responsibility to calm tensions and work toward solutions. Our governor has done the opposite — ignoring advocates and pushing harmful policies, and then nuking lawmakers for refusing to do her bidding. Now comes our City Council, passing two ordinances that don’t do much, structurally, but send a loud message: The unhoused aren’t wanted here.
I don’t believe that’s the intent. But it is the impact. The Council brought back its anti-panhandling ordinance under the guise of pedestrian safety, at least according to the ordinance itself — but as the Las Cruces Bulletin reported, even though the ordinance states that pedestrian fatalities have been increasing, the police department did not provide a single example of panhandling contributing to any pedestrian death.
Police Chief Jeremy Story might believe this ordinance will reduce traffic fatalities, but the political energy that led to the ordinance’s approval was entirely about cracking down on unhoused folks. When crime is up, it’s always easiest to blame marginalized people.
Mayor Eric Enriquez told KRWG that Las Cruces is a generous community, so unhoused people are able to access everything they need from churches and nonprofits. Allowing panhandling, he said, enables addiction.
What a cold worldview.
Unhoused folks are our neighbors. Almost all of us are closer to their reality than that of the wealthy. So many are suffering from challenges we don’t know and maybe can’t even imagine. And they need help.
My family makes kits to give to folks who are soliciting. We fill bags with snacks, wipes, hand sanitizer and other things. My daughter and I hand them out while we’re driving to school or running errands. We see people we recognize from previous encounters and give again. A couple of weeks ago we passed a woman whose sign requested a tarp or tent, so I gave her the tarp I carry in my truck. Sometimes we hand out cash, too.
We back candidates who support important structural changes. Las Cruces has done a lot to help unhoused folks in recent years — more than most cities. At Monday’s meeting, Bencomo listed programs she’s spearheaded or supported to help address the root causes of poverty and homelessness.
They include creation of an outreach court that helps resolve outstanding citations for unhoused people and others who need help escaping what Bencomo described as “the loop of the criminal justice system,” the Mano y Mano program that employs unhoused or at-risk people to clean up parks and encampments and provide outreach about services for unhoused people, the addition of hundreds of affordable housing units, the creation of a crisis intervention team under the fire department, and the funding of a real-time crime reporting center.
The truth is that Las Cruces has made a concerted effort for years to address the core issues that lead to poverty and homelessness and contribute to crime. As places like Albuquerque and California have cracked down on homeless populations, Las Cruces stands apart for its vision and thoughtful efforts to make change.
Monday’s ordinances were a step away from that, but not a big one. We still have a Council committed to addressing root causes, one that has a history of putting money into big ideas.
As additional cities and states work to make unhoused people someone else’s problem, more may come to Las Cruces. This is a national challenge that requires a strong national response. I’d urge our local and state leaders to push the federal government in this direction.
In the meantime, constantly berating and harassing Bencomo simply because she’s a brown woman with a different view than yours isn’t helping. Nor is attacking the councilors who voted for these ordinances but have also supported good policies in the past — Graham and McClure. We need them, too.
The same is true of the police chief, who brought the shopping cart resolution to the Council. Though I may not agree with the new ordinance, with his proposal to hold business owners accountable for their carts, Story was responding to the Council’s desire to act without further criminalizing the unhoused.
The respect Bencomo and Story have shown each other through this process, even when they disagreed, is a good example of how we should move forward.
“We may not agree,” Bencomo said at Monday’s meeting. “But I do work hard and I do care deeply, and I will continue to do so.”
I believe her. I believe the same is true about Story. There’s lots of potential in that.
And there’s more to do. Let’s keep moving forward.
Photo Cutline: A shopping cart lay on its side near Lohman Avenue on the same day the Las Cruces City Council enacted an ordinance aimed at cracking down on shopping cart use by unhoused people. A cardboard sign in the cart included the words “Homeless,” “hungry” and “God bless,” in addition to a drawing of three crosses. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)