The ongoing fight for rent control in the state was addressed at the Roundhouse Wednesday where the Senate Health and Public Affairs committee decided to table the issue after hearing from real estate professionals and renters on different sides of the issue.
Senate Bill 99 would have repealed the current ban on rent control for privately owned properties.
Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero, D-Albuquerque, and Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, were leading this bill in the legislature in hopes that this move could lead to more affordable housing for New Mexican residents. Sen. Lopez said accessing affordable housing and rental facilities is a statewide issue.
Enabling rent control would allow the local authorities to limit the initial rental price for a property, and limit the frequency with which a landlord could raise the rent.
If this bill had been passed, it would not have enacted rent control right away, but it would give municipalities the right to decide if they want rent control.
But several real estate brokers and some lawmakers argued that implementing rent control wouldn’t fix the housing shortage problem, that building more houses would.
The motion was tabled and is unlikely to proceed further during this legislative session.
