Couch-surfers, people facing EVICTION, invited to attend wisdom-sharing experience
The McKinley Community Health Alliance held a Wisdom Sharing Experience focused on Gallup housing issues and invited community members experiencing housing instability to attend.
The McKinley Community Health Alliance “Housing in Gallup” Community Health Impact Assessment Team held its Housing First and Community H.I.A. Wisdom Sharing Experience at the Gallup Community Service Center and Bingo Hall Oct. 13.
Christopher Hudson, the coordinator of the McKinley County Health Alliance and project manager for the assessment, told the Sun that the event was meant to cover a variety of topics surrounding the issue of homelessness; ranging from being overburdened by rent to trying to buy a first home.
Organizers shared information from the Community Health Impact Assessment and Housing First. They also drew from the lived experience of those most personally affected by housing instability in Gallup — people living in motels, facing eviction, facing housing loss and ongoing homelessness.
Hudson said people who are homeless are his organization’s top priority. He urged that everyone in Gallup join forces to address the issue of homelessness.
“It is all of us that will have to come together to provide a better system/infrastructure to address the spectrum of housing instability,” Hudson said.
Hudson stated that the McKinley Community Health Alliance has plans to work with the Gallup Housing Authority Board and community groups.
“One main goal of any Community HIA is to really develop the community voice, story and self-determination behind any issue being assessed, so that when officials and decision makers are consulted, there is already an equitable and large base of community to move any policy recommendations forward,” Hudson said.
By Molly Ann Howell
Sun Correspondent
