Interfaith coalition hosts public forum on homelessness in Los Alamos

A free forum at SALA Event Center is trying to reset the local conversation about homelessness by moving beyond the usual fragments, encampments, emergency referrals and law-enforcement calls, and into the bigger questions of who becomes unhoused, why it happens and why it can be so hard to escape.

The Interfaith Coalition on Homelessness will present Understanding Homelessness at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16, at SALA, with Glenn Weber and Maggie Meier, ThM, leading the 90-minute program. A second presentation is planned for April 28 at White Rock United Methodist Church. The event is built to be accessible and solution-oriented, with practical ideas for helping and even ice cream at intermission.

The coalition’s message lands in a county where homelessness is often discussed as a regional problem rather than a single local statistic. When the group formed in October 2024, it said homelessness in Española was about 10 to 15 times higher than in Los Alamos, a gap that has shaped how faith leaders, service providers and residents talk about need in the Española Valley and Los Alamos County. The coalition began with representatives from seven houses of worship in Los Alamos County and has since expanded to 14 congregations, including 10 in Los Alamos and three in Española.

That growth has come with tangible activity. The coalition says it has taken on more than a dozen projects in less than two years and raised more than $35,000 to support them. Its work has included nearly $19,000 for Española Pathways Shelter in late 2024, more than $9,500 in 2025 for free cell phones and 30-day service for 30 patients treated for addiction disorders at three clinics, and a winter collection drive that delivered 114 boxes of essentials for Española Valley neighbors. It also says it interviewed more than 30 people in about 15 frontline organizations in 2024, a sign that the effort is trying to ground its outreach in the daily realities of shelter, recovery and service access.

The coalition says its mission is to unite diverse faith communities and other interested people to provide compassionate support, advocacy and essential services to people experiencing homelessness in Española. That mission fits a broader state backdrop: the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness works with more than 80 agencies and partner providers statewide, and the state’s 2025 Housing Needs Assessment identifies stable housing for people experiencing homelessness and people with special needs as one of New Mexico’s core housing strategy areas. For Los Alamos, the local forum is less about a one-night program than a reminder that homelessness remains a persistent regional policy problem with direct consequences for county residents, schools, churches and public safety.