Casa Milagro sits in Santa Fe, New Mexico, surrounded by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, on a property with beautiful views, gardens, and a dedicated residence at 49 Camino Bajo. The place started in 1995 as a nonprofit and gives permanent, stable housing to adults who've lived with mental illness and have experienced homelessness, and the people there mostly qualify for SSI or SSDI and meet HUD guidelines. The house is home to a small community of about 12 people, each one encouraged to express themselves through art, writing, and crafts, and you'll find an art room full of paints, colorful materials, and tools for projects, and you might see folks working on collage, drawing, or even multimedia pieces for the annual "Inside Out Santa Fe" art show, which lets residents share their work with the wider community.
Casa Milagro has many daily routines-residents cook house meals together, take part in gardening out in the xeriscaped yard, and even compost as a way to care for the land, with sustainability being a big focus. Meditation, yoga, and creative projects are part of life here, mixed in with therapeutic activities like counseling, mindfulness groups, and behavioral health support. The companion animals, like the well-remembered house cat Tiggy, help create a gentle, healing atmosphere where people care for and spend time with animals.
The staff, numbering between 11 and 50, are known for their warmth and welcoming spirit, offering structure and support all day and night so folks feel safe and have someone to turn to. Residents meet with counselors, join group and individual therapy, work on personal goals with life-skills coaching-things such as meal prep, budgeting, fitness, and hygiene. Services include medication administration, clinical stability checks, memory care for those with dementia, and case management to help get outside medical or therapy care when needed. The service planning uses what each resident wants for themselves, supporting personal empowerment and helping people shape their own path.
You'll also find cooking, crafts, gardening, caring for animals, and multimedia art projects built right into daily life. Some residents take college classes, while others focus on learning how to live more independently. The environment is all about acceptance, kindness, and removing the stigma from mental health struggles, so folks can feel they belong and thrive. Casa Milagro isn't a medical rehab or a hospital; it's a long-term, sustainable home where each person is treated with humanity, and the aim is always to nurture well-being and community through honest care and creative living.
