Albuquerque to Consolidate Homelessness Citations into Friday Hearings
The initiative follows a ProPublica report detailing a sharp rise in citations under Mayor Tim Keller, with the homeless population in Bernalillo County’s jail reaching nearly 12,000 in 2025.
Judges, public defenders, and city officials in Albuquerque have agreed to a procedural overhaul designed to break the cycle of missed court dates and subsequent arrest warrants for homelessness-related offences. Starting 1 July, police citations for nine specific offences associated with living on the street will be scheduled for Friday hearings. The move aims to improve attendance rates and connect individuals with support services, addressing a system where people without permanent addresses or mobile phones frequently fail to appear in court.
The changes were prompted by data indicating a significant surge in charges under Mayor Tim Keller’s tenure. According to a ProPublica report, individuals were charged 1,256 times for obstructing sidewalks in 2025, a figure nearly six times higher than the previous eight years combined. Trespassing charges exceeded 3,000 that year, the highest annual total since 2017, while unlawful camping cases rose to 704 from 113 in 2024. Court data further shows that charges for the nine offences targeted by the new Friday hearings increased from 579 in the first four months of 2025 to 2,072 in the same period of 2026.
To facilitate the new schedule, judges will not include trespassing charges in the Friday docket. Instead, the consolidated hearings will feature a caseworker and an attorney from the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender. Dennica Torres, the district defender for the public defender’s office, described the setup as a “one-stop shop” where local treatment and service providers will be available outside the courtroom. The city of Albuquerque has allocated $200,000 to fund a city attorney or paralegal to assist with this effort.
The procedural shift comes as the homeless population in Bernalillo County’s Metropolitan Detention Center has grown substantially. In 2025, nearly 12,000 individuals were designated as “transient” or homeless at the jail, up from 3,670 in 2022. Last week, nearly 53% of people booked at the facility were recorded as homeless. Mayor Tim Keller, who has been in office since 2017, has previously stated that arrests and citations are not a solution to homelessness, though he has also defended the Albuquerque Police Department’s enforcement actions as adherence to the law.
Presiding Criminal Division Judge Michelle Castillo Dowler issued the memo outlining the new schedule, noting that judges observed an increase in homelessness-related charges 18 months ago. The goal is to reduce the number of warrants issued for failure to appear, which often lead to jail bookings when individuals encounter officers again. While the city has increased enforcement and deployment of crews to clear encampments, officials argue that the new Friday hearings offer a more structured approach to managing the rising caseload without simply cycling vulnerable individuals through the justice system.
