GreenTree Inn has helped keep Santa Fe's homeless off streets

Jun. 13—Since the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, the GreenTree Inn offered refuge for members of Santa Fe's homeless community while local shelters were forced to limit the number of people they could accommodate.

Many of the guests at the Cerrillos Road motel have had rooms reserved through a partnership between the city of Santa Fe, shelters and other organizations that support the homeless in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and keep people off the streets.

While the motel has provided relief for dozens of people in need, rising violence at the GreenTree also has taken lives. In the first six months of 2021, three of the city's six homicides occurred at the motel. Two of the victims and one suspect in a violent death were clients of local nonprofits serving the homeless.

In the most recent killing, 59-year-old Marty Little died several days after being shot in the head during Memorial Day weekend in the motel parking lot. Little's room had been paid for by the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness.

"Yes, three murders," said Joe Jordan-Berenis, the former executive director of the nearby Interfaith Community Shelter at Pete's Place, which also has placed clients at the GreenTree. "But think about this: What about all the people who did have successful stays? It's a lot more than three."

"We're very grateful that the GreenTree took our clients there," said Edward Archuleta, executive director of St. Elizabeth Shelters and Supportive Housing, another nonprofit that has housed clients at the motel. He added: "Many other motels in Santa Fe refused."

A dicey location

Following Little's death, the Santa Fe Police Department is planning to increase its patrols in the area and will check in with GreenTree employees regularly, Deputy Chief Paul Joye said. The agency also has placed a mobile video camera unit at a property next door to monitor the motel.

GreenTree general manager Matt Dees — who took over operation of the motel in August 2019 when GreenTree Hospitality Group purchased it from a company operating a Motel 6 at the site — also has plans for increased security. He is considering an upgraded camera system, new locks, a panic button for employees to notify the front desk of any emergencies and a single-entrance gate to the property.

Dees contends a large factor in the crime is the motel's location.

A low-cost motel on Cerrillos Road in central Santa Fe is likely to have challenges, he said.

The site's previous Motel 6 had a reputation for drawing crime. As a former corporate employee of the company that ran it, Dees said he was familiar with the types of issues such lodging facilities face.

Police have said Little was fatally shot on the motel property May 29 after an altercation between him and suspected gunman Anthony Ortiz started in a parking lot down the road.

Dees called the shooting a prime example of the types of dangers that exist in the area.

"I feared for my employees, I feared for myself and I feared for my customers," he said in an interview Friday. "But that could have happened anywhere on that road. I think any business on Cerrillos in Santa Fe is a challenge."

Still, Dees said his employees have not raised any safety concerns.

"There's a lot of people that were held over from Motel 6 — the housekeeping staff and the maintenance staff," he said. "Most of them are used to it, for lack of a better word."

Joye confirmed the motel's location is a factor in the violent crime it has seen. It lies on a stretch of Cerrillos Road that has the department's highest call volume.

"There's certainly been an increased need for police presence at the property," Joye said. The department is working with the motel's management to help beef up security efforts. "But," he said, "we will also do what we can on our end to increase our police presence in the area."

Manager answered a call

Archuleta said he spent several days calling motels last year, when the state's public health order required shelters to cut capacity to 25 percent. St. Elizabeth needed to find alternative housing for its clients, but most of the largely empty hotel and motel properties in the city weren't interested in providing rooms. Dees stepped in, offering an affordable option at the GreenTree, and "bent over backwards" to help, Archuleta said.

One of St. Elizabeth's clients, 52-year-old Arthur Loretto, a member of Zuni Pueblo who had been trying to get his troubled life back on track, was killed at the motel. Santa Fe police still have no suspects in his death.

Archuleta said that by February, when Loretto was found fatally stabbed and beaten in his room, St. Elizabeth caseworkers were being notified that some women and children housed at the GreenTree were beginning to feel afraid.

"When my staff started telling me that the women were scared, I said, 'Get them out of there now.' So, we moved them across the street to the Econo Lodge," he said.

Jordan-Berenis, who recently retired from his position at Pete's Place, described a pleasant experience with Dees.

"I thought we had a really successful experience," he said. "Matt's really skilled, he knows the population, understands the population and works well with the population."

Jordan-Berenis said Pete's Place was "cautious." It wanted to ensure everyone's safety by carefully vetting who would participate in the program. Initially, it housed 46 guests at the motel, all of whom were medically vulnerable, older and were required to remain sober, he said.

The shelter also hired an employee to visit the motel every day and check on clients for any issues and to address concerns.

"Knowing who you [are] putting there and taking the time to vet them and interview them and be with them and tell them what your expectations are ... I told everybody, 'I just want you to remember you're representing the agency,' and they upheld their half of the bargain for the most part," Jordan-Berenis said.

A wider housing problem

Dees said he knew his decision to partner with the city and the shelters came with risks, but he never expected to see homicides on the property.

"I knew that there were going to be people with drug issues and mental health issues," he said. "That's why we had deals with the shelters that we were sharing the burden of managing their clients."

Both St. Elizabeth and Pete's Place had a sobriety requirement for guests staying in the motel.

The New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness did not.

Hank Hughes, the coalition's executive director and a Santa Fe County commissioner, argued the sobriety requirement would exclude too many people in need.

"We were trying to be careful with who we placed there, but our main criteria was getting people off the streets in the middle of winter," Hughes said. "If you only house sober people, you're not going to prevent people from dying."

The correlation between the homelessness and homicide is bigger than any one motel, he said.

"If you're poor, you're much more likely to be a victim of crime, and if you're homeless, you're really likely to be a victim, just because of where you are," he said. "You're exposed more."

Police suspect one of the coalition's clients, Alvin Crespin, 45, is a perpetrator. Crespin is charged with murder in the January death of 50-year-old Virgil Tortalita of Santo Domingo Pueblo, whose body was found in a motel bathtub. Police believe it had been there for days.

By early spring, the shelters had moved most of their clients to other hotels, housing units or back into the shelters as the state allowed them to operate with increased capacity.

Archuleta said he believes the homeless population in Santa Fe is growing, with a rising need for social services.

"I've been in this work for many, many years, and I am seeing so many new faces out on the streets, especially Cerrillos Road," he said.

Hughes agreed and pointed to a wider problem.

"I think the point is that for people who have serious issues with substance abuse and mental health, we really need some appropriate, supportive housing we don't have yet in the community that can provide them with the services and the protection they need," he said.