A small affordable housing complex in Albuquerque’s International District is getting a renovation and revitalization through partnerships with local companies and lawmakers. The project’s administrators say they can leverage those partnerships to keep costs low for tenants.
The seven unit property at 609 Chama Rd. SE is an active construction site, with changes coming one improvement project at a time.
Pastor Jesse Harden with New Creation Church, which manages the property through Home Together, the church’s housing program, says each unit is getting upgraded in several areas by a local contractor.
“So this family, we've moved them to an extended stay [hotel] for a week, and they should be ready to move back in and be, you know, inside safely,” he said. “It'll be noisy because we're going to be changing the roof and windows and all that stuff. But it's just a week [long] disruption in terms of their living situation.”
Harden says by focusing on existing affordable housing, the state can make an impact in the housing crisis with smaller investments.
Roger Valdez, director of the Center for Housing Economics, a local housing policy organization, worked with Harden to make the project happen. He says they raised about $640,000 using capital outlay funding from state representatives, which is money allotted to each representative to invest in small projects they personally want to support.
“And so what we're trying to do is demonstrate if we invest our state money wisely, we can bridge that gap, not have to make the rent increases, preserve the building, and then people can continue to live affordably,” Valdez said. “And, you know, comparatively, these units are going to come online for tens of thousands of dollars in investment, as opposed to hundreds of thousands for new construction.”
Valdez said the project also received an Innovation Fund Grant from Housing New Mexico, the state’s housing finance agency.
Valdez also points to secondary benefits, like more work for the construction agency, more efficient and climate-friendly housing that helps save tenants even more in the future, positively affecting the economy into the future.
Harden said they’ll be able to keep renting the units for only $550 per month, about half of market value, because of the public investment.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
