City begins conversations to address homelessness

At the June 24 noon City of Socorro Meeting, Mayor Ravi Bhasker reported on a meeting he had with a representative of Puerto Seguro Safe Harbor Inc., Socorro’s non-profit organization that offers a safe space for those experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity at no cost.

Bhasker said the meeting included Shay Kelley, PSI board president, Chris Carrillo, Socorro’s code enforcer, Socorro Police Chief Angel Garcia and Lloyd Martinez, general services director.

“We’ve been trying to clean up some of the tents that have been built, especially in vacant houses. Some of those vacant houses have caught fire, so we’re still going to continue being aggressive.”

He said he plans on asking the budget committee to look into supplying PSI with funding. He suggested a figure of around $20,000 to $30,000 to help with personnel.

“If they can stay overnight at the Puerto Seguro, then you have to provide for somebody to supervise them. At least we are making a proactive effort to stop this problem. We’re not going to stop enforcing the clean up, we’re not going to let them have encampments, but maybe we can do something to help them have a place to shelter.” Bhasker said.

He said he wanted to bring it to the council for discussion. He said PSI was housing people in the winter, and he thought they could help with a summer program too when the temperatures rise.

“I think she (Kelley) appreciated that we’re all on the same wavelength and that we will try to work together on this problem,” Bhasker said. “I did tell her that we’re going to be aggressive in enforcing the code and that we can’t have that in people’s private property.”

He said the goal is to help residents who are homeless, not itinerant individuals. He said they are trying to find proactive ways to help those in need while also maintaining public safety.