Consuelo’s Place becomes independent nonprofit, plans new shelter facility

Consuelo’s Place has secured IRS 501(c)(3) status and will begin operating as an independent nonprofit on July 1, putting the Santa Fe homeless shelter on a firmer financial footing as it prepares for a new facility. The move gives the organization, located at 1600 St. Michael’s Dr., Building 7 on the former College of Santa Fe and University of Art and Design campus, the ability to apply for a broader range of grants, deepen community partnerships and accept tax-deductible donations directly.

The shelter began in March 2020 as Midtown Emergency Shelter, created during the COVID-19 pandemic as a socially distanced quarantine site for unhoused people who tested positive for the virus. It later adopted the name Consuelo’s Place, honoring a relative of a city employee, and yellow was Consuelo’s favorite color.

Today, the shelter is a non-congregate program for vulnerable individuals and families transitioning into permanent housing. It averages about 90 clients in house, from infants to elderly adults, including veterans, LGBTQI+ residents, people with disabilities and survivors of domestic violence, sexual trauma and human trafficking. Michele Williams, the executive director, said the shelter is working to move guests into stable or permanent housing in 60 days or less.

Williams also said the shelter mostly serves Santa Fe County, but it has helped some people from Los Alamos.

A June 19 Los Alamos Reporter story put Consuelo’s Place at about 218 people in calendar year 2025, including 148 adults and 70 children, with 35 children staying there at the time of the interview. In 2025, Glenn Weber put the shelter’s housing placement rate at 57 percent. Santa Fe’s homelessness page lists Consuelo’s Place as the city’s only non-congregate shelter and lists a 64 percent transition-to-permanent-housing success rate.

The shelter’s relationship with the Interfaith Community Shelter remains part of its operating history. Interfaith Community Shelter served as fiscal sponsor for Consuelo’s Place, and a City of Santa Fe contract required 24/7 staffing at the Midtown site and identified Interfaith Community Shelter LLC as the fiscal agent overseeing operations.

Santa Fe’s procurement documents cite more than 7,343 missing rental units in the 2021 Santa Fe Housing Report. Consuelo’s Place is raising money to cover daily operations, and a July 1 community barbecue is planned.