Las Cruces mayor gets ‘eye-opening’ look at homelessness

EL PASO, Texas -- Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima recently got a first-hand look at the plight of homeless people in his community, seeing the conditions people are living with and the struggles they face to get by.

Meeting with homeless people living on the streets of Las Cruces is something the mayor had never done before.

He headed out one morning last week shortly after sunrise to better understand some of the struggles of being homeless.

"Things that we take for granted so easy, these are huge challenges. It was really a great experience to understand exactly what some of our residents are going through," the mayor said.

Miyagishima called the experience both "eye-opening and informative." ABC-7's cameras went along with the mayor and you can watch it unfold in the video player at the top of this article.

Miyagishima said he hopes to be able to formulate some policies and reach out to state and federal partners to see how they can help.