Groups trying to solve housing crisis talk challenges and collaboration

Yahoo

23-02-2025

There seems to be no shortage of organizations and initiatives designed to solve or at least mitigate the affordable housing crisis in Santa Fe County.
And, yet, by the estimation of some folks who are deeply involved in the effort, the crisis is worse than ever.
'Yes, it feels like it is,' said Roman 'Tiger' Abeyta, CEO of the Santa Fe Community Housing Trust, an organization that helps low-income residents gain access to capital, economic literacy and affordable housing.
The struggle to maintain an adequate supply of homes in the area considered affordable for lower-income residents dates back to the mid-1990s, Abeyta said, though it seems to have intensified in recent years.
Mike Loftin, CEO of Homewise Inc. — a decades-old Santa Fe nonprofit that combines all the homebuying steps under one umbrella — agreed. 'I feel like we're losing ground, for sure,' he said, noting the Great Recession in the early 2000s hampered the movement considerably.
'Everybody quit building homes,' he said. 'And we never got our mojo back. Then the COVID pandemic hit, and that was a major hit. The problem really spiked.'
Homewise and the Community Housing Trust are part of a contingent of organizations and local government agencies trying to chip away at the persistent problem, with not just a lack of affordable housing but an estimated shortage of more than 6,000 overall housing units. Other groups working on the issue include the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority, St. Elizabeth Shelters & Supportive Housing, the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association, The Life Link and YouthWorks.
Additionally, the city of Santa Fe operates an Office of Affordable Housing and Santa Fe County runs its own Affordable Housing Program.
These entities approach the problem from a variety of angles, including advocacy, rent assistance, down payment assistance, financial literacy classes and low-cost financing.
Some even take a more direct tack, building single-family homes or multifamily complexes.
Still, it seems the dream of achieving homeownership in Santa Fe has never been more remote for low- or moderate-income residents. The median home price in Santa Fe in 2024 was $582,000, according to a recent analysis of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development figures by Construction Coverage, an online publisher of construction industry research. That was an increase of about 93% over 2014's $302,000.
Average hourly earnings in that same period increased only 44%, the report shows, making affordability a significant issue for aspiring homebuyers.
Johanna Nelson, interim director of the city's Office of Affordable Housing, as well as the director of the Office of Economic Development, said the number of players in the local affordable housing arena "pushes the need to be aligned and work together" to overcome the crisis.
Soaring demand, shortage of land
Homewise, the Community Housing Trust and Habitat for Humanity seem to take the most comprehensive approach to increasing the area's inventory of reasonably priced dwellings.
Habitat serves the lowest-income bracket of homebuyers in Santa Fe, and that makes its work more crucial than ever, said Rob Lochner, the organization's interim director, noting the widening gap between haves and have-nots.
The organization builds new homes and sells them at below-market prices to program participants via zero-interest loans while requiring them to contribute 'sweat equity' during construction.
In a typical year, the local Habitat chapter receives nearly 600 inquiries about one of its homes, he said. A decade ago, that number was between 100 and 200.
'The need is growing exponentially,' said Lochner, the nonprofit's former construction director.
Habitat typically has built six or seven homes a year here, but the number has fallen. The group recently broke ground on its first home since March 2024, he said, noting it can't acquire enough affordable lots. The amount of property it can purchase at a reasonable price or acquire through donations has plummeted.
That situation is especially discouraging, Lochner said, because Habitat is otherwise well positioned to carry out a more ambitious agenda.
'I think we're behind the ball,' he said. 'We have the volunteers, we have the staff; we're doing reasonably well. But we're falling behind on land.'
Habitat aims to work with more commercial homebuilders to construct a certain number of affordable units in their developments under city and county requirements; though, many choose instead to pay a fee rather than build homes at below-market rates.
Those efforts haven't been gaining much traction, he said.
Lochner said he is hopeful better days are ahead for the local Habitat chapter. It has a new executive director, Cathy Collins, coming on board March 12.
'We've had some change of staff, but our board is strong,' he said. 'We're going in a positive direction.'
Seasoned leader sees hurdles
Abeyta is relatively new to the Community Housing Trust, but he's no stranger to the challenges the affordable housing crisis creates.
He joined the organization as its executive director a little more than two years ago after spending 12 years as the leader of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe/Del Norte. He also has worked as the Santa Fe County manager, the city's deputy city manager, and the county's planning and land use director, and has served on the Santa Fe City Council and the Santa Fe school board.
Those experiences allow him to view the crisis from a variety of perspectives.
He said much of the housing trust's work is focused on providing mortgage assistance to homebuyers. It also builds affordable single-family residences.
Its reach extends beyond Santa Fe County. In December, the organization partnered with Los Alamos County to launch a program offering education, counseling, down payment assistance and home rehabilitation assistance for residents.
He expressed some frustration with what he described as government bureaucracy impeding progress, in part because of unrealistic income limits to qualify for down payment assistance and other aid.
The best example, he said, is the state's public school teachers, many of whom move from a Tier 1 teaching license starting salary of $50,000 to a Tier 2 salary of $60,000 after three years. The additional pay is a double-edged sword, Abeyta said: 'They still don't make enough to buy a market-rate house, but they make too much to qualify for assistance."
Abeyta also cited a need to streamline local government systems that can slow or stall a project.
Additional hurdles remain, he said, noting rising infrastructure costs — with further increases likely due to the Trump administration's planned tariffs — will make it even harder to build housing for people of modest means.
Abeyta said he avoids discouragement by always looking for new opportunities. Being involved in multiple projects simultaneously keeps the housing trust from ever reaching a standstill.
'You try to look for more than one potential project you can keep going through the approval process so you can try to keep the supply coming,' he said.
A public-private approach
Santa Fe County is jumping directly into the affordable housing pool. It has applied for funding to build a nearly $54 million entirely affordable residential development.
The Nueva Acequia project — a public-private partnership between the county and Indiana real estate development company TWG Development LLC — will be located on 6.6 acres on Camino de Jacobo off Airport Road. County Manager Greg Shaffer has described it as a 'unique and innovative' project, one that responds directly to the need for more than 6,200 affordable housing rental units identified in the county's 2023 Affordable Housing Plan.
Nueva Acequia would feature nearly 160 affordable units — 53 of which will be set aside for seniors, while the remaining 106 are designated for families. The units would be reserved for households earning 30% to 80% of the area's median income, a county spokesperson has said.
The county is applying for funding from a variety of sources, including from the city of Santa Fe's Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Other potential sources of funding for the project are tax credit financing, and city, state and federal grants and loans, The New Mexican has reported.
A contractor for the project has not been hired.