City says it will break ground soon on pallet home project

City officials said this week that a 50-unit pallet home project announced in the spring — a transitional recovery housing campus — would break ground in the next couple weeks and be completed in early 2025. The project site is located near Candelaria Road and   Pan American Freeway NE.

The campus is intended to serve a growing population that’s in urgent need of help — those experiencing homelessness who also have significant addiction issues. About $5 million in city opioid settlement funds have been dedicated to the project so far. Bernalillo County officials have pledged an additional $800,000.

Health, Housing & Homelessness spokesperson Connor Woods said the funding was sufficient to cover infrastructure costs and two years of operations. He said the site is being prepped and that the pallet homes — 8-by-8-foot prefabricated units — have been purchased. It’s not yet known who will operate the campus.

“The process is still ongoing. Once an operator is selected and finalized, more details will be shared,” Woods said.

The project is a first for the city, and one that would work in tandem with a forthcoming $5.3 million, 50-bed medical sobering center at the Gateway Center . Those experiencing homelessness who are also intoxicated often end up at strained city shelters, emergency rooms and jails that don’t offer adequate addiction treatments. The Gateway Center beds would provide a space for clients to sober up, get treatment, and be offered access to recovery services, case management, and referrals to recovery housing like the pallet home campus.

The pallet home project was approved by the City Council in a 5-4 vote in April . Some of the dissension was due to the use of opioid settlement money before a city and county joint agreement on how to spend the funds was completed. The city and county had entered into a contract with global health organization Vital Strategies in February for its recommendations on the best use of the funds, which included a series of community meetings to get suggestions and feedback.

The city has received about $25 million in settlement money so far, while the county has received about $22.5 million.

Vital Strategies recently completed its community meetings and is scheduled to present a proposal to the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Government Commission on Oct. 24, Kathy Korte, chief of government affairs at Bernalillo County, said.

Meanwhile, officials said a formal contract that’s required to be in place for opioid treatment services at the pallet home campus before clients can move is in progress.

“We have been working diligently to identify a provider,” Woods said.

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