City outlines plan to expand micro ‘pallet’ communities; council demands site, cost and neighbor engagement details

Community Health and Safety Director Henry Hammond Paul and Youth and Family Division Director Julie Sanchez updated the governing body on the city’s micro‑community ("pallet") pilot and plans for expansion.

Hammond Paul said the city currently maintains a “by‑name” list of unhoused individuals and reported, “we currently have on our by name list, 385 individuals. We have about 285 beds in our emergency housing system, emergency shelter system. So that leaves us with about a deficit of a hundred and 5 beds.” He cited Santa Fe Public Schools’ broader McKinney‑Vento count of 741 homeless youth as an additional measure of need.

The pilot at Christ Lutheran Church has 10 units; Hammond Paul said nine residents had been placed into permanent housing and seven had completed detox or medically assisted treatment. He emphasized that the micro communities are managed, fenced and staffed, saying these “are managed sites with on‑site services, trained professionals. They're 24/7 providing care and case management and security.”

Hammond Paul described a multi‑phased rollout. Phase 1 was the single pilot site; Phase 2, currently under way, aims to add two to three more sites. The city has secured funding to purchase additional units and the micro community advisory board (MCAB) narrowed a set of ten city sites to five candidates; staff will perform a technical feasibility review with project and construction firms before presenting recommendations to the governing body.

Councilors pressed for specific protections for neighbors and for a clear timeline. Councilor Lee Garcia and Councilor Romero Worth asked how the city will ensure service continuity and public safety in proximate neighborhoods and whether technical reviews will examine grading, utilities and emergency access. “We don't want to just see what happens,” Garcia said; he and others said they want quick, clearly scheduled district‑level engagement sessions that demonstrate how problems will be addressed promptly.

Romero Worth urged fast action to help a defined group. “Let's make a commitment that within 2 months, we will find a site … and get 15 veterans off the streets,” she said, referencing a list from the Santa Fe Veterans Advisory Board. Several councilors urged county and state collaboration for sites and funding.

Councilor Cassett and others asked the city to provide comparable experiences from other cities and to show whether neighborhoods chosen for pallet communities were high‑need before siting. Hammond Paul pointed to research and vendor data that show examples where pallet communities correlated with reduced neighborhood calls for service and, in some studies cited by staff, small increases in nearby home sales over 24 months.

Hammond Paul said the city has an active MCAB that includes service providers, faith‑based organizations and people with lived experience; site scoring factors include sewer and water access, site layout, transit proximity and closeness to supportive services. He urged councilors to help plan district meetings and said staff would pursue private, nonprofit and county or state property options as part of a broad site search.

No final site selection or vote occurred at the meeting. Staff said they will return with the contractor technical reports, refined community engagement plans, cost estimates (including per‑unit capital and operating projections) and recommended sites for council consideration.