09-04-2025
New dashboard will show where Albuquerque housing voucher money is being spent
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The goal? A more transparent way to see how the city is spending money to house the homeless. That's what a group is working toward as Albuquerque overhauls the system behind millions of dollars in housing vouchers.
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'Being able to streamline and create a voucher system that helps people,, is something that we need right now, today,' said Charlie Verploegh, Deputy Director of Homeless Services Connections.
It's been three months since the city started its work revamping the system funding housing for those living on the streets. It comes after Albuquerque city councilor Renee Grout called for more transparency from the city, which spends roughly $8 million on housing vouchers, which is managed by a handful of non-profit groups. 'Last year, we found that there were a lot of vouchers that have gone unused, and that's not a good thing either, so they weren't getting to the people that needed them,' said Grout.
A new report delivered to Albuquerque City Council this week outlined the city's plan for a newer voucher task force, which over the next year will create a new public-facing dashboard to show people where and how housing voucher funding is being used. 'Everybody can get on that dashboard, be able to understand how are vouchers being distributed, what does that look like, how many people are being served? So, for example, right now, 803 people are being served on vouchers. We don't have that information readily available to our public,' said Verploegh.
The city said other states like Colorado have similar dashboards that they're looking for inspiration from.
The city also hopes other non-profits will use the revamped system to figure out how they can better serve those who need help. 'Being able to work on strategies to addressing needs for unsheltered people, giving them vouchers is one of those key components of addressing that need and that longer-term goal of getting people off the streets into housing and to their next step to be part of our community,' said Verploegh.
The working group is expected to take the next year to implement the housing voucher overhaul. The hope is to get the public dashboard up by January.
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