TOPIC: Affordable Housing: Beyond the Unhoused (One Year Later)
SPEAKERS: Lisa Huval NM Office of Housing, Dept of Workforce Solutions and CABQ’s Dr. Brittany Karnezis
Panelists will include:
· Lisa Huval, Housing Initiatives Manager, Office of Housing, Dept of Workforce Solutions, discussing housing options available to lower income residents and eviction prevention programs
· Dr. Brittany Karnezis who will address both
- the Gateway Young Adult Housing and Treatment Navigation Center preventing homelessness for youth aging out of foster care, as well as
- treatment services and the success rate for the mentally ill and substance abuse victims who may remain unhoused if not receptive to CABQ Shelter options.
Affordable Housing - Beyond the Unhoused (One Year Later)
This educational meeting will offer members a status update on statewide housing and homeless projects slated or under development via last year’s 2025-26 State Legislative funding; the impact of the May 2026 Albuquerque City Council Ordinance #O2614, also called the “Enhanced Service and Safety Zone Ordinance,” which allows the city to designate certain areas as “enhanced service and safety zones” and adding there more police patrols, sanitation work, and behavioral health resources, which may also unduly impact the unhoused; and a brief overview of NM Department of Workforce Solutions Office of Housing and the new DWS Housing Development RFP released April 24th .
Lisa Huval is the Housing Initiatives Manager for the Office of Housing in the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions. Lisa has led policy, programmatic and funding initiatives related to affordable housing and homelessness for twenty years. She has held leadership positions both in the nonprofit and government sectors and believes strong collaboration between these two sectors is necessary to ensure everyone has a safe place to call home.
Lisa has helped build and strengthen all parts of the housing spectrum in New Mexico, from creating permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness to funding affordable rental housing developments to building mixed income for-sale residential communities. With a Master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning, Lisa is a strong facilitator and consensus-builder, with demonstrated success in bringing people together to effectively address difficult issues.
Dr. Brittany Karnezis is a public-sector and community leader whose work focuses on homelessness response, systems coordination, and community wellbeing initiatives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She currently serves as Homeless Innovations Officer with the City of Albuquerque’s Department of Health, Housing, and Homelessness, where she supports strategic initiatives related to encampment response, outreach coordination, service navigation, and the Gateway System of Care. Prior to her work with the City, Dr. Karnezis served in leadership roles across higher education and nonprofit organizations, including as Director of Student Life at Central New Mexico Community College. Her work has centered on cross-sector collaboration, operational strategy, equity-informed programming, and strengthening systems that support vulnerable populations.
Dr. Karnezis holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in Higher Education from West Texas A&M University. She also serves on the Core Leadership Team for the New Mexico Basic Needs Consortium; a statewide collaborative focused on advancing basic needs initiatives for college students across New Mexico.
Zoom Invitation -
LWVCNM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Affordable Housing: Beyond the Unhoused (One Year Later)
Time: Jun 11, 2026 12:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 838 6705 6964
Passcode: 001993
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