Max Juarez’s Empower Health Services loses permit in east Albuquerque
A substance abuse treatment center in east Albuquerque has lost its permit to operate after neighbors appealed, cofounder Max Juarez said. The revocation forces Empower Health Services to weigh backup locations or relocating the overnight program.
The Albuquerque City Council voted to revoke the conditional use permit for Empower Health Services, which runs a residential facility north of the Albuquerque International Sunport. Neighbors had fought the permit for months, saying the overnight shelter brought problems to local businesses and residents.
John Love told councilors earlier this month that the area changed after the facility opened. “Last October, we noticed a huge increase in our neighborhood; it started to look like east Central,” Love said. He listed shoes on power lines, drug use, crime, and trash as concerns he observed in the neighborhood.
Juarez, the facility’s cofounder, pushed back on the neighbors’ claims. “It’s really disheartening to see that, we really had to work extra hard to provide the data,” Juarez said. He added that the program serves a need and benefits patients and the community.
Juarez also questioned the council’s process and the makeup of the opposition. “A lot of these folks now are employed by the same people in this community that are opposed to the program,” Juarez said. He did not name who those people are, according to the source.
The location, Juarez said, is part of why the program works. “The success rates of them being in a neighborhood where there isn’t drug use, there isn’t loitering, there isn’t a transaction going on right outside your door,” Juarez said. He added that staff chose the site on purpose.
The City of Albuquerque first approved a conditional use permit for the facility. Neighbors then appealed, and city councilors agreed to revoke that approval.
Empower Health Services is now weighing what to do next. Juarez said the shelter is preparing backup options in case it has to leave the east Albuquerque site. KRQE News reached out to D. Love Restaurants, which helped file the appeal, and had not heard back.
What a conditional use permit does
A conditional use permit lets a property operate under rules set by the city, often tied to a specific use like a residential treatment facility. The Albuquerque City Council can grant or revoke such permits after a public hearing and an appeal process.
