ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It's intended to be a safe space to recover for the most vulnerable in the city. Tuesday, the city showed off the long-awaited Medical Respite Center at the Gibson Health Hub.  The city said it's been eight years in the making for the Medical Respite Center. The new space within the Gateway Center will help roughly 400 homeless people a year, recover from a hospital discharge following illness or surgery.   Story continues below Podcast: Albuquerque Mayor Talks Crime, Homelessness, Goals for 2025 Crime: Former Bernalillo County deputy sentenced for tipping off drug dealer to 2021 raid Business: New owners talk about what’s next for South Valley batting cage "This is huge. It's meeting that gap to say no, a better appropriate placement for an individual is a place with a bed where they have the services tied to them not 20 miles outside of town," said Gilbert Ramirez, director, dept. of Health, Housing, & Homelessness.    The 24/7 center will take in 50 patients at a time, referred from UNM Hospital, First Nations Community Health Source, and Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless. Those patients will be able to stay for 45-60 days while they recover, receiving medical follow-up care and three meals a day.   The space has individual and shared rooms as well as exam rooms, a physical therapy room, and two dining areas. The goal is to give patients a better chance of recovery than they would have on the streets. "This coordination between UNM hospital and the Medical Respite Center will help fewer patients come back to us after they're discharged," said Kate Becker, UNM Hospital CEO.   In the longer term, they hope this will be a place to connect people with the services they need, to get out of homelessness permanently. The city expects to start taking patients at the end of the month. They just finalized their contract with Heading Home which will operate the center.   The Gateway Center recently unveiled another facility a sobering center for people trying to get off drugs or alcohol. The city said the provider is still working to get that facility up and running.