Albuquerque council looking to protect homeless from floods

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Albuquerque City Council is expected to introduce a proposal Monday to protect the homeless from rushing floodwaters.

Albuquerque TV station KOB reports that the proposal will give the city authority to remove people from arroyos, hopefully preventing unnecessary rescues.

The proposal would give the city authority to cite people for camping or otherwise hanging around in ditches and arroyos.

“The city’s having a big conversation about homelessness and camping across the city, about where it should be, where it should not be allowed,” council member Pat Davis told KOB. “But everyone agrees that these the number of these swift water rescues we’re seeing, particularly for homeless folks that have been swept up in these flash floods, is increasing and that’s dangerous for them (and) it’s dangerous for our firefighters.”

The proposal is one of several in the past year to tackle the homelessness crisis in Albuquerque.

“We’re literally looking place by place, block by block, park by park, to figure out what works and what doesn’t,” Davis said.