Homelessness in New Mexico

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Homelessness in New Mexico" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (November 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Homelessness is a serious issue throughout the state of New Mexico. Through a demographic examination it becomes evident that New Mexico has a high proportion of social groups that are currently and historically socioeconomically disadvantaged.^[1] Native Americans as a proportion of the US population represent the second highest amongst all States with only Alaska having a higher ratio, while it also has a large Hispanic population. Homelessness is a direct cause from an individual not being able to provide themselves with the most basic of necessities to maintain a healthy life hence having a higher proportion of individuals in poverty places a greater risk of an individual becoming homeless.

New Mexico's homeless population is largely concentrated in Albuquerque, although homeless populations generally exist on a marginally lower scale in Santa Fe and Las Cruces.

New Mexico's homeless population peaked in 2020, where it hit 3,300, roughly less than 0.2% of the state's population. This figure declined since then; however, statistics on homelessness are often inaccurate due to miscounts because of COVID-19, or the count being done in the wintertime, where fewer homeless are outside in public to be counted.

Albuquerque’s homeless population is 2,740, around half a percent of the city’s population, from a 2024 count, though the NM Coalition to End Homelessness states in the Point In Time Count Report that this number is "certainly an undercount".^[2]