ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Community organizer Justin Allen is suing the City of Albuquerque for infringing on his free speech rights after city employees retaliated against him for informing a group of unhoused neighbors that the city had no right to move them or seize their belongings.
“The people living on the public sidewalk in the International District were only there because they had no other place to go, and they weren’t bothering anybody,” said Allen. “The police and waste workers were using intimidation and harassment to remove them and their belongings, which violated the law. We all want every member of our community to be safe and housed but criminalizing homelessness does nothing to address its root causes. In fact, it just makes the problem worse.”
On February 13, 2024, Allen prevented Albuquerque Police Department and Solid Waste workers from clearing a sidewalk in the International District where a group of unhoused people were living. At the time, a preliminary injunction barred the City of Albuquerque from forcibly moving unhoused people and seizing or destroying their belongings without process.
During the confrontation, some city employees yelled at Allen several times to “take them [unhoused people] to your house” and took note of his license plate number to obtain his home address. A worker then read out Allen’s address to the unhoused people and instructed them to go to Allen’s home address, adding that they would be “safe” there.
“Instead of making the lives of our unhoused neighbors more difficult by destroying their shelter and personal belongings, the City of Albuquerque should be addressing the lack of housing,” said Kristin Greer Love, the Senior Civil Liberties Attorney with the ACLU of New Mexico, “Aggressive policies of clearing homeless encampments endanger people's lives. All New Mexicans have the right to speak freely without fear of retaliation by the city—including Mr. Allen, who was sharing information about his unhoused neighbors’ rights.”
In recent years, Albuquerque has seen significant rent increases, which directly correlates to the rise in people experiencing homelessness. The New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee reported that the cost of rent has risen, with the average price for a one-bedroom apartment jumping nearly 40% between 2017 and 2023.
“Mr. Allen was exercising his constitutionally protected speech rights to inform unhoused people of their rights. It was not an invitation for strangers to obtain his home address and share it with a group of people on a street corner,” said Nicholas Mattison, ACLU of New Mexico cooperating attorney with Feferman, Warren & Mattison, “Mr. Allen has suffered emotional pain and is rightfully concerned for his safety after strangers, including police and solid waste workers, now know his home address.”
A copy of the complaint can be found below.
