Omar Escobar picks out some clothing at the community closet at the Interfaith Community Shelter at Pete’s Place, where he was staying in December 2020.

Omar Escobar picks out some clothing at the community closet at the Interfaith Community Shelter at Pete’s Place, where he was staying in December 2020.

The board of directors for the Interfaith Community Shelter at Pete’s Place took a vote last month on an overhaul of operations that advocates say will be a game-changer for many homeless men in Santa Fe.

The change approved in January means men, along with women and children, will be permitted to stay overnight all year long.

Shelter Executive Director Korina Lopez confirmed Friday the Women’s Summer Safe Haven program — which has only allowed women and children to sleep at Pete’s Place in the summer months — will be replaced with a new program dubbed Summer Safe Haven for All.

The shelter was launched by several faith groups about 15 years ago in response to concerns about a lack of beds for members of the homeless community, especially on bitter cold winter nights.

The city purchased Pete’s Place, an old pet store building on Cerrillos Road, in 2010, providing a permanent home for the nonprofit seasonal shelter. In 2016, following vigorous fundraising by the faith groups, the shelter began opening year-round for homeless women and children, who were some of the most vulnerable people in the city.

“As we’ve moved through the seasonal overnight season, we decided, you know, that while it’s still very much important to us for the women’s safety and all that, the reality is the need is still very much there for the men” in the warmer months, Lopez said.

One of the shelter’s staff members “got eager” this week and announced the change to guests at Pete’s Place, she said — and the announcement drew claps from men who were pleased they wouldn’t have to find a new place to sleep each year when May rolls around.

“There is that weird [situation] we had where the men — we would let them know ahead of time of like, ‘Hey, May’s down the road. You’re gonna have to get ready and seek elsewhere,’ ” Lopez said. “It’s gonna reduce some stress, or at least I hope it does.”

The shelter is planning to let patrons know about the change through flyers at their lunch tables, she said, adding news about the shelter usually also spreads through word of mouth.

Pete’s Place has alerted its community partners about the change, she said, such as the Santa Fe Police Department and the city’s Alternative Response Unit.

Kyra Ochoa, director of the city’s Community Health and Safety Department, said she supported the Interfaith Community Shelter’s decision to offer beds to men year-round, even before the move was officially approved by the board.

“Solutions to unsheltered homelessness need to be nimble; they need to respond to conditions on the ground and the people’s need,” Ochoa said. “It’s a benefit to the people they serve and it’s a credit to them that they’re willing to stretch to this new service.”

Allowing men to stay overnight at Pete’s Place during the summer could lead to fewer crisis calls to 911 involving homeless people in the city, she added, and might prompt more people to stay at the shelter rather than camp on city property.

“There will probably be people who, you know, don’t feel comfortable using a congregate shelter, and so we wouldn’t expect to see the problem just go away,” Ochoa said. “We need to create more housing options for everyone and shelter options that work for everyone.”

Chaplain Joe Dudziak — who operates a volunteer mission that distributes sleeping bags and other goods to members of Santa Fe’s homeless community through the winter — said he has been volunteering at Pete’s Place for over a decade and thinks it’s a great idea for the shelter to open to men during warmer months.

Dudziak said he will spread the news about the change to the people he serves on the streets in the hope some might take advantage of the shelter’s increased services for men.

“I don’t think that the general public realizes how stressful it is to sleep out on the streets,” he said. “… I’ve heard many, many times the phrase ‘asleep with one eye open,’ which basically means not really sleeping because, you know, you gotta worry about people stealing your stuff, beating you up or potentially even worse.

“To give people a safe place to come in and sleep is large,” Dudziak said.

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