Las Cruces city officials joined workers at The Community of Hope for a ribbon cutting that marked the opening of new offices at the facility.
The new renovations to the building turned an old storage area into multiple new offices and admin space that Community of Hope officials said was desperately needed. The renovations come with a new receptionist desk, bathrooms and a shower.
During the opening speeches before the ribbon cutting, Las Cruces City Councilor Johana Bencomo said that moves like this is how she sees homelessness being solved.
“We don't solve homelessness by pushing people further into the margins, you solve it by investing in people, including the staff who work here, by creating pathways to housing, by building systems rooted in dignity and not displacement. This is what Community of Hope represents,” Bencomo said.
Executive director for Community of Hope Nicole Martinez said that the renovations help solve many of the ongoing problems in their office spaces. In addition to greater client confidentiality, there is now room for better organization of files, to bring desks in out of hallways, and more than one bathroom to serve the 40 plus staff members.
“We have been really cramped in our side of the building and we have had to overtake some of the case management rooms that were meant for meeting with our clients and training rooms and now staff will have the space that they need so that we can more adequately, safely, privately meet with clients who are in need of help,” Martinez said.
The new office space is not the only construction being done on the Community of Hope campus. A new affordable housing complex called Amador Crossing is being built. It will consist of 50 units of supportive housing for people exiting homelessness. "So we will have 25 one bedroom units and 25 0 bedroom units and we will have staff on site to help people transition out of homelessness and into their own housing,” Martinez said.
According to the original plans for the housing project, Amador Crossing may hold occupants as early as April.
