County Requires Joy Junction to Provide More Bathrooms or Reduce Occupancy: Could Cost $150,000
By Joy Junction (09/14/05)
(Albuquerque) What would life be like for Albuquerque's homeless without Joy Junction, Albuquerque's largest emergency homeless shelter?
Judging by the statistics, pretty difficult! Tuesday night/Wednesday morning 144 people stayed at Joy Junction. Last year the shelter's kitchen produced at least 65,000 meals. The 19-year-old ministry is now an indispensable part of the city's social service landscape. It is important to point out that Joy Junction operates entirely without the aid of any government funding at all.
However, the ministry is facing a crisis and needs immediate help to continue operating at its current level. Failure to resolve the issue could result in between 40 and 50 people without any place to stay.
Here's why.
Joy Junction is located on an old 52-acre site in Albuquerque's South Valley with buildings that are in constant need of renovation.
As Joy Junction's occupancy load has expanded over the last few years, sometimes the building maintenance has not always been able to keep pace.
As a result, Joy Junction Founder and Director Jeremy Reynalds recently received a letter from the Bernalillo County Office of Environmental Health.
It read in part, "Bernalillo County Office of Environmental Health and the Bernalillo County Building Official have found insufficient plumbing fixtures (toilets, sinks and showers) to serve the rated occupancy load of the multi-purpose building of Joy Junction."
While Joy Junction intends to comply with the Bernalillo County requirement, and has already hired an architect to begin the process, it will involve a large amount of money that the shelter currently does not have.
Reynalds said, "I have no problem with the County's legitimate requirement, and obviously the end result will be to enhance the quality of service that we are able to provide to our guests, but it does put us in a financial squeeze. This will be an unplanned, unbudgeted expenditure which our business manager has said could be, depending on the willingness of local contractors to help us out, as much as $150,000. It will require significant renovation of our bathroom facilities."
Reynalds added, "Over the last couple of years the demand for the services that we provide has escalated, and now it's time for us to keep up with that increase. While our willingness to help is not limited, our finances are, having been already stretched to the breaking point after a long and difficult summer. With that in mind, I am appealing to the community at this time to help us."
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