Watershed health and housing justice: An intersection

From 6 to 7:30 p.m. Jan. 20, Santa Fe residents are invited to show up for their community, their watershed and their neighbors. The Santa Fe Watershed Association and the Santa Fe Housing for All Collaborative will host a free public panel, “What Is It Like To Be Unhoused?” at the Southside Branch Library, 6599 Jaguar Drive.

This conversation is essential to the work my colleagues and I do to care for the Santa Fe River Watershed, because the health of the watershed is deeply tied to the well-being of everyone who lives within it. The panel is an opportunity to listen and learn from the lived experience of panelists who have experienced homelessness, to engage thoughtfully around solutions, to understand the connections between watershed health and housing justice more deeply, and what you can do to help.

I see this connection firsthand in my work organizing cleanups around the urban watershed. At the watershed association’s October community cleanup, co-hosted with the Santa Fe River Commission and the Santa Fe Rotary Club, nearly 60 volunteers, including the incredible Trash Pandas cleanup team, gathered at Louis Montaño Park and De Vargas Park. Together, we removed more than 80 bags of litter from the riverbanks — an estimated 1,200 pounds of trash.

Much of the trash we removed from those parks — and much of what I’ve encountered over the past two years organizing watershed cleanups — did not come from careless litterbugs. The blankets, shopping carts and tattered clothing we often collect most likely are

items left behind by homeless people. The unfortunate reality is, when individuals lack access to housing, they are left with few options but to take shelter wherever they can: along streets, in arroyos or beside the river itself.

Ahead of the cleanup, this newspaper published an editorial (“Love your river? Get out Saturday to clean it up,” Our View, Oct. 24) emphasizing the need for individual responsibility, respect for our shared environment and systemic solutions to keep our waterways and open spaces clean. The editorial called for expanding housing options such as congregate shelters or Pallet shelters, strengthening enforcement and littering fines and making trash disposal easier and free so old couches and appliances are not simply dumped into the nearest arroyo. I wholeheartedly agree and would add that meaningful responses to homelessness should also include access to mental health and substance-use services, job training and workforce development, as well as zoning reforms that enable more efficient housing to be built. We also need sustained support and funding for the local organizations already doing this critical work.

Fittingly, this panel takes place the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a timely reminder that social justice and environmental justice are inseparable. Environmental pollution disproportionately impacts poor and marginalized communities, who often bear the health consequences of environmental neglect. Everyone deserves access to clean water, safe parks and healthy environments. As Dr. King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Addressing homelessness — and enhancing watershed health — requires a comprehensive, coordinated approach and must include the lived experiences of our most vulnerable Santa Feans. That’s the spirit of our Jan. 20 panel.

We invite all community members and our newly elected mayor, council members and other city and county officials who have made environmental protection, housing and homelessness central priorities for Santa Fe. The panel is free and open to all and is also supported by the city of Santa Fe River and Watershed Section. Join us and help build a healthier watershed and more just community for all.