History
1986–Present
1986
St. Elizabeth Shelter opens on December 15, 1986, in response to a community-wide, interfaith commitment to address the growing needs of homeless people in Santa Fe. Inspired by the work of St. Elizabeth Seton, the Sisters of Charity are fundamental to the planning and operations in the early days of the nondenominational shelter. The first shelter is located in a rented building on Don Gaspar Avenue.
1988
St. Elizabeth purchases the old United Way Building at 804 Alarid St. and converts it into a facility to feed and shelter homeless men, women, and families with children.
1991
To address the increase in need for shelter for homeless families, four satellite apartments are rented. This is the beginning of the transitional Family Program.
1993
St. Elizabeth’s purchases a nine-unit apartment building at 1905 Siringo Road to provide transitional housing for families. We share the building with Youth Shelters, an agency that provides transitional living for homeless youth.
1994
The City of Santa Fe leases six houses to St. Elizabeth’s for the nominal fee of $1.00 per year. The homes, on a right-of-way that is awaiting demolition for a new highway project, provide transitional housing for homeless families through the fall of 2001.
With a grant from the Marshall L. and Perrine D. McCune Charitable Foundation, the main shelter is remodeled to create a private sleeping room for families with children for emergency/short-term shelter. Before the room is remodeled, families are divided between the men’s and women’s dormitories.
1996
With the help of Life Link and the City of Santa Fe, the Emergency Winter Shelter is opened for its first season. This program offers homeless men a warm, safe place to sleep from mid-December to the end of February.
1997
Thanks to the funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the City of Santa Fe, the Federal Loan Bank of Dallas, and the McCune Foundation, eight new transitional housing apartments for homeless families are constructed in Tierra Contenta to house families in the Sonrisa Family Transitional Living Program.
1998
St. Elizabeth Shelter purchases an existing building on Cerrillos Road with 28 efficiency apartments to provide transitional housing for homeless individuals. The first guests move into the apartments in February 1998, and a complete rehabilitation of the building is finalized that summer. This site is home to the Casa Cerrillos Supportive Living Program for individuals with disabilities.
1999
John R. McCarty generously pays off the original loan for the Emergency Shelter and dedicated the building in honor of his family.
2002
Economic developments and a significant decrease in private giving following the 9/11 tragedy poses new challenges. As funding for the shelter decreases, the needs of individuals already on the edge or living in poverty increase. Despite these challenges, all of St. E’s programs operate at near or over 100% capacity due in large part to the efforts of the enormously dedicated staff members, interns, and volunteers.
2005
St. Elizabeth Shelter begins a Resource Center program. Every Tuesday and Friday, individuals in need eat lunch and receive case management and legal services.
The Siringo Senior Housing Program also opens this year.
2006
St. Elizabeth Shelter implements a Homeless Court, where individuals with outstanding warrants have the opportunity to contest them in court with assistance from attorneys and case managers.
2009
Casa Familia, an emergency shelter for women and families with children, opens its doors. Casa Familia doubles the number of emergency shelter beds available in Santa Fe.
2011
The resource center moves and becomes the Santa Fe Resource & Opportunity Center on Cerrillos Road, a collaborative project where local service agencies work together to serve the community.
2011
Mayor David Coss declares December 15, 2011, as “St. Elizabeth Shelter Day in Santa Fe” as St. Elizabeth celebrates a quarter century of helping the homeless of Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico.
2013
St. Elizabeth holds the first Hungry Mouth Festival, a friendly chef competition event where attendees vote on their favorite dishes.
2015
St. Elizabeth creates the Break the Cycle of Homelessness fundraiser where bike riders participating in the Santa Fe Century have their friends and family sponsor their ride. The first year’s riders raise over $30,000.
2016
St. Elizabeth celebrates its 30th anniversary with an all-day community event on the Santa Fe Plaza with food, music, and children’s activities.
2019
To work towards breaking the cycle of homelessness, St. Elizabeth’s expands its services, adding licensed therapists, social security disability specialists and follow-up supportive housing case managers.
2020
The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak occurs in Santa Fe and around the world. Following the requests of the city of Santa Fe, emergency shelter guests are quarantined in motels around Santa Fe. Throughout the pandemic, all of St. Elizabeth’s staff continues to provide support services, including case management, counseling, and food to all clients. Fortunately, not a single current client is lost to the virus; however, sadly, one staff member succumbed to COVID-19.
2021
The city of Santa Fe asks St. Elizabeth’s to provide support services at the Santa Fe Suites, a 123-unit extended stay motel converted into housing for low-income and formerly homeless individuals and couples. The project is spearheaded by Mayor Alan Webber and owned and managed by Community Solutions, a New York-based non-profit dedicated to ending homelessness. Within the first few months of operations, over 80 formerly homeless individuals are housed.