HopeWorks is one of the largest nonprofit organizations in New Mexico working to end homelessness among individuals and families.

Every year, approximately 11,000 individuals come through our doors, seeking services to help them exit their homeless episode.

Our work in this community is important, now more than ever.  The numbers of people experiencing homelessness are rising, and proposed solutions don’t always take into account the humanity of the people most impacted; that is, those living on the streets, in shelters, in their cars – places truly not fit for human habitation.

This work is not easy nor fast.  It requires all of us to be brave:  our clients, our staff, and those who stand in solidarity with us in support of our work.

HopeWorks has been bravely engaged in this work for over 35 years, learning and growing and refining, ensuring that our practices are best practices, and that our clients are treated with care, respect, and love.  We choose to serve people deemed the “hardest to house” – people who have lived on the streets for years, people who have experienced decades of trauma, people struggling with mental health challenges, people for whom chemical dependence is often an understandable method of coping.

Critical to our work is examining the ways in which homelessness intersects with systemic issues of racism and other inequities – as well as identifying ways in which our agency itself upholds or helps dismantle these destructive systems.  The 2021 Point in Time Count (New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness) shows that in Albuquerque alone, unsheltered American Indian/Alaskan Native individuals are represented at a rate almost six times higher than the general population.  Individuals identifying as Black or African American represented on the streets at twice the rate of the overall population, with numbers more than tripling for those staying in emergency shelters.  We recognize that our work is inextricably linked to addressing the root causes of these injustices.

You can read our commitment here in the Statement of Profound and Intense Love, and learn more about the connection between racism and homelessness here in our May 2021 editorial titled “Why does homelessness continue to rise in Albuquerque?”  To be sure, we welcome all who come through our doors.

The solution to homelessness is housing with individualized wrap-around supports; these are key to our efforts. Systems of coordinated care must be in place to ensure that our clients have the support they need to stay housed.

For over three and a half decades, we have stood firmly rooted in our focus to serve some of the bravest people in our city as we strive toward a day when homelessness is a word we used to know.  We hope you’ll join us.