As many as 17% percent of New Mexicans experience severe housing problems, according to the Legislative Finance Committee, putting the state 13th in the country.
Senate Bill 7, now under discussion in the legislature, would give $500 million to an affordable housing trust fund which has provided flexible funding for housing initiatives for low- and moderate-income households since 2005.
But as the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee noted on Monday, during the first 17 years of its existence, it was funded to the tune of $61 million, total.
Bill sponsor Sen. Nancy Rodriguez (D-Santa Fe) said the fund should get a lot more support.
"The legislature appropriating $2 million here, $3 million there is not cutting it," she said. "And that is one of the reasons I thought I would put in a request for $500 million."
Homelessness has sharply increased, according to a legislative report last year, which found there may have been an uptick of nearly 50% in the number of unhoused people, and that the supply of affordable rental units had declined by 50% since 2020.
An analysis of the bill found that the fund would spend the proposed, non-recurring money over a six to ten year period. The Mortgage Finance Authority, which administers the fund, has plans to build over 4,000 affordable rental properties. It also helps with down payments.
The bill passed the committee by six votes to three, along party lines.
But Sen. Rodriguez acknowledged that it is unlikely the law will ultimately pass with the requested $500 million in funding.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham recommended $250 million go to the fund in her proposed budget, while the legislature's proposed budget recommended just $50 million for the fund.
