As Homelessness Rises, City Leaders and Policy Fellows Explore How Community Engagement Can Turn NIMBY Resistance into Support
In Santa Fe, more than 1,200 people need shelter tonight—but only 150 to 200 beds exist. City leaders want to build new pallet shelter “micro-communities” to close that gap, yet progress has stalled. The reason isn’t just funding or logistics. It’s resistance from residents—better known as NIMBYism (“not in my backyard”).
This local struggle reflects a national crisis. Homelessness increased by 18% in 2024, topping three-quarters of a million people. At the same time, shelter capacity hasn’t kept pace, leaving thousands with nowhere safe to go. And even when shelters are built, the lack of affordable housing keeps people stuck inside, unable to move forward and freeing up beds for others in need.
Santa Fe’s Shelter Crisis Meets Community Resistance
In an exclusive Q&A with policy fellows Hannah Somers and Ananthi AI Ramiah of the Aspen Policy Academy, we explore Santa Fe’s homelessness crisis and the growing challenge of NIMBYism.
“A lack of sufficient housing for unsheltered and unhoused individuals in Santa Fe is causing a public health and humanitarian crisis,” Ramiah said.
City officials have pledged a broad strategy that includes expanding housing, improving service coordination, and using data to guide decisions.
“As part of its Homelessness Emergency Action Plan, the city plans to build up to three new micro-communities, comprising 20 to 30 pallet shelters each, as a stopgap measure,” she explained.
The City Council has already approved funding and is currently weighing five city-owned properties as possible sites. On paper, the project has the resources and a clear path forward. In reality, progress has stalled—not because of money or logistics, but because of entrenched “not in my backyard” attitudes.
“The biggest hurdle has not been funding or logistics, but community support,” Somers said. “Many residents expressed concerns about property values, safety, or fairness in siting, and stigma around homelessness compounds these fears. From public meetings and online comments, we learned how much people want to feel heard and reassured. Without meaningful engagement, resistance can stall projects even when resources are available.”
That lack of support has turned site selection into the project’s biggest roadblock.
“Much of the feedback we heard and read about indicated that community members did not feel as though they were part of the decision-making process,” Somers said. “NIMBYism meant that there wasn’t one obvious welcoming location to start with.”
A Way of Fostering Community Support
This challenge—overcoming community resistance—became the focus of the Aspen Policy Academy fellows’ research. Their question was simple: How can policymakers convince their communities to support the development of much-needed homeless shelters?
In their policy brief, Cultivating Stakeholder Support to Address the Growing Homelessness Crisis in Santa Fe, the fellows outlined recommendations to engage and educate the community while ensuring site selection is fair and transparent.
“We attempted to develop recommendations that would engage and educate the community and fairly and transparently select sites to keep the project moving,” Somers told Invisible People.
Ramiah added that the project’s primary focus is to cultivate community buy-in, sharing the following recommendations:
- Transparent siting assessments that openly share how potential locations are evaluated (siting template created). In other words, the public deserves to know why sites are chosen so that they can see fairness and transparency in action.
- Technology-enabled civic engagement so that residents can give real-time feedback and city leaders can respond visibly and constructively. This helps neighbors feel heard, instead of sidelined, in the decision-making process.
- Community design competitions, inviting neighbors to help shape the look and feel of new sites, turning them into local assets rather than feared impositions. When people have the opportunity to help shape a shelter, they’re more likely to welcome it.
- Story-driven communications that elevate the voices of people with lived experience, reframing micro-communities as a public health and humanitarian solution. Hearing directly from people who’ve lived it helps break down stigma and reminds communities that shelters are about dignity, safety, and health.
- Dedicated staffing, so engagement is consistent, responsive, and rooted in trust-building. Consistent staff provide neighbors and residents with a reliable point of contact, helping to foster trust on both sides.
These strategies all point to one key idea: when communities are engaged, stigma begins to break down. Ramiah pointed to a local example at Christ Lutheran Church, where a privately run micro-community has seen neighbors respond positively, and some residents have successfully transitioned into permanent housing.
“This local success story demonstrates that stigma can be overcome when communities are engaged and outcomes are visible,” she said.
Santa Fe Chooses Pallet Micro-Communities To Address Growing Homelessness
While gaining community support remains a challenge, city leaders are moving forward with plans for pallet micro-communities — a model chosen for its speed, dignity, and ability to provide transitional shelter when traditional housing isn’t yet available.
Provided by Pallet, pallet shelters, also known as “shelter villages,” can be built quickly and offer residents a private shelter with access to nearby services.
“Pallet micro-communities are small, intentionally designed transitional shelter sites composed of private modular units arranged in a shared community layout,” Somers said. “The idea is to provide dignified, secure, private space for individuals who are unsheltered, while still giving them access to communal infrastructure, support services, and a pathway toward stability.”
Key features include:
- Private modular units: Each resident (or household) has their own enclosed space — enough for basic privacy, rest, and safety, rather than sleeping in open, shared halls or outdoors.
- Pets and possessions allowed: Many designs accommodate pets and storage of personal belongings, which is essential for maintaining dignity and stability.
- Communal infrastructure: Central shared amenities like bathrooms, showers, laundry, dining/meal service, gathering space, and hygiene facilities.
- On-site support services: Case management, pathways to housing, health and mental health services, and often meals/hygiene support from local providers.
Shelters Just One Step in the Equation
Building pallet micro-communities is only one piece of a much larger puzzle. Ending homelessness requires more than temporary shelter — it depends on community support, affordable housing, supportive services, and a willingness to confront stigma head-on.
As the Aspen Policy Academy fellows note, stigma can stall progress, but it can also be overcome with transparency, engagement, and persistence. Santa Fe’s experience shows that when neighbors are part of the process, resistance softens and solutions can move forward.
The lesson is clear: shelters matter, but lasting change will only come when communities choose to say yes — yes to housing, yes to dignity, and yes to solutions that move us all closer to ending homelessness.