Latest news with #EdRomero
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Housing authority uses tax credit model to move projects forward
Getting affordable housing units online for low-income residents is difficult — and the process behind construction has undergone change since the late 1990s. The Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority — an independent nonprofit that works to ensure rental units remain affordable in the city — has sought out limited partners for projects in the push to get units online. In these cases, the authority serves as the "general partner" and has less than a 1% ownership stake in many properties in its portfolio. The quasi-governmental organization has an annual budget of around $15 million, Executive Director Ed Romero said, with about $10 million coming in grants and the other $5 million from a combination of federal contracts and tenants' rent payments. Among the properties in the housing authority's portfolio are Española Public Housing, which spans 178 units; Villa Hermosa, a 116-unit public housing community in the St. Francis Drive corridor; and Phase 2 of the Tierra Contenta project, which has 80 units. In the town of Bernallillo, it also controls the 96-unit Village in the Bosque. Romero noted the authority has fewer units on the east side of Santa Fe, a historic area with more stringent restrictions for construction. The nonprofit's affordable housing projects in Santa Fe have land-use restrictive agreements, or LURAs, guaranteeing they receive a specific number of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from the federal government over a specific time period. The model is one in which housing authorities have converted public housing stock to project-based rentals, leveraging federal government programs that allow them to convert public units to Housing Choice aid vouchers to ensure affordability for low-income residents. The investor in these projects assumes the role of limited partner and receives tax credits in return. "The way the tax credit project works is you have a deal in which you bring on an equity investor," Romero said. "The equity investor gets credits, plus they get 99% of the income and losses of a property for the next 15 to 30 years, depending on how long they want to stay in the project. "But what they bring to it is 70% of the capital that is required to remodel the apartments," he said, "and it's a structure that HUD turned to back in '97, '98 when they stopped funding the construction of affordable housing."
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
St. Catherine Indian School campus could be rezoned
The former St. Catherine Indian School campus, now dilapidated and desolate, for decades served as a private Catholic boarding school — not just for Indigenous children but also for other students from across Northern New Mexico. Since the school closed its doors in 1998, developers have considered its potential; the campus is nestled in a prime location in northeastern Santa Fe, adjacent to Rosario Chapel, Rosario Cemetery and the Santa Fe National Cemetery. But the historic property, located in one of the city's historic districts, poses major construction challenges. The Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority, an independent nonprofit focused on providing affordable housing for low-income residents, has owned and maintained the site since 2016 — an expensive endeavor in itself. But Executive Director Ed Romero acknowledges the property isn't appropriate for low-income housing. Instead, he plans to launch a rezoning effort, making the campus more attractive for commercial developers. "The game plan is to give it zoning that will enable developers to come in and do their project, with the guidelines of, 'They must save the historic buildings that are on the site now,' ' Romero said. He expects to move forward in the fall with a request to the city of Santa Fe to rezone the property to a C-2 designation, expanding the potential commercial uses. Currently, the unused site is zoned R-5, Romero said, or five residential units per acre. 092221 jw indian (copy) The Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority plans to seek a zoning change for the historic St. Catherine Indian School property to make it more enticing to a commercial developer. The dozens of permitted uses in the city under C-2 zoning range from bookshops to museums to neighborhood community centers and business centers, as well as hotels and grocery stores. City Councilor Signe Lindell, who represents the city's District 1, where the campus is located, noted any project there would be a very complicated affair for a developer. "I'd love to see something go on that property. It would be a great place for housing," Lindell said. "The way it sits now, it's really not benefiting anyone. In fact, with the deterioration, it's been an uphill battle at times keeping unsheltered people out of there." 'Historical need' to preserve it Purchased by the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority for around $1.7 million in 2016, the old boarding school campus was never viewed as a viable site to build affordable housing. Rather, officials said they thought they had a responsibility to protect the historic property and wanted to keep it safe until a financially sustainable use could be found. "It could be offices. It could be hotels. It could be schools," Romero said. "It could be multiple ideas out there." The housing authority would hope to make a "modest" profit, Romero said, money that would then be put back into its local affordable housing initiatives. "The problem you have is you cannot build an affordable property that rents at $1,000 a month [a unit] when you're going to pay perhaps $20 million to $30 million to rehab eight old buildings that are going to provide you maybe 20 units," Romero said. The property is 17 acres with more than a dozen buildings, some of which are landmarked, he said, noting no developer is going to be able to raze the buildings. "It's a historical need" to preserve the property, Romero said, adding, "We felt like, if we didn't step up when we made this decision, nobody else was going to." When the housing authority bought the property, Romero said, it was in talks with a San Diego firm that wanted to build housing on the site. They signed a memorandum of understanding contingent on the firm securing tax credits for the property, a plan that fell through. Another purchase deal has not emerged. Rezoning the property would make it more enticing for a developer, Romero said. 092221 jw indian (copy) Details at the historic St. Catherine Indian School include a small cemetery where clergy were buried and murals created by some of the students. "Nobody wanted to buy this property, or wants to buy this property today and go through a zoning process with the city, [in] which you could be in another $300,000 to $400,000 and not get approval to move forward," he said. St. Catherine Indian School was established in 1886 as St. Catherine's Industrial Indian School for Boys and operated as a private boarding school for more than 100 years before closing in 1998 because of a lack of funds. It later went into foreclosure. It was founded by Katharine Drexel, a wealthy heiress who took religious orders and became a nun. She was later the second American canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church. Drexel founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, the order that ran the school. Since its closure, the campus has remained empty except for a handful of special projects, such as being used as a location to film the movie Cliffs of Freedom several years ago. Aerial (copy) Aerial view of St. Catherine's Indian School, circa 1975, Neg. No. HP.2014.14.1430. Garron Yepa, an architectural design professional and an enrolled member of Navajo Nation, has a vivid memory of being part of a crowd at a basketball game at St. Catherine Indian School when he was young. "Most of my family matriculated and found a lot of kinship with folks from other communities, and those ties remain very strong as a result of that lived experience," Yepa said. "… I would love to see its future embody some of that history." The challenges of developing the property doesn't mean people haven't shown interest. Would-be buyers — or perhaps dreamers — run the gamut. Over the years, someone who wanted to turn the property into 'the Harvard of the Southwest' expressed interest. So did someone claiming to be a member of the Walton family, the owners of Walmart. One person proposed the idea of building an orphanage and getting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to renovate the campus. "I know there are quite a few organizations who would be perfectly at home there," said Yepa, who serves on the city's Community Development Commission. "However, Santa Fe is a challenging market to navigate, especially for Indigenous communities."
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Leaner and meaner': Nonprofit makes aggressive efforts to preserve low-income housing
Standing near a neon sign that shines at night along a central stretch of Cerrillos Road, Lori Potter Kimball and Robert Wagner reflected on the long journeys that led them to an apartment complex they call home. Kimball was on a waiting list for about four years before a spot came open at the Stage Coach Apartments in Santa Fe, a converted former motel that now serves as quiet and comfortable housing, she said. Wagner, one of her neighbors, was homeless and trekked to Santa Fe from Nashville, walking long stretches with Lily, his amiable pit bull, who was not allowed aboard buses. "I'd be homeless," Wagner said, if not for these apartments and the assistance he receives as a veteran through a federal housing aid program. Stage Coach, long the home of the Stage Coach Motor Inn, is one of a limited number of housing options for low-income Santa Feans, converted into affordable apartments about a decade ago. It's featured among the growing list of properties in the portfolio of the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority, a more than 60-year-old independent nonprofit that plays a critical role in trying to address a housing affordability crisis that continues to plague the city. 042925_MS_ Ed Romero_001.JPG Ed Romero, executive director of the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority, at La Resolana Senior Apartments in Santa Fe last week. Increasing its inventory in recent decades — with new projects in the pipeline to preserve the affordable housing stock for low-income residents — the nonprofit is one of just a few housing authorities in New Mexico that remain active in development activities, Executive Director Ed Romero said. He believes his organization is "leaner and meaner and more directed, perhaps, than a typical city housing authority might be." "Santa Fe is a tough town right now" when it comes to rising rent prices, Romero said, and his organization intends to "ensure that there is affordable housing." Projects in the pipeline The Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority has ownership stake in about 1,400 units, most in Santa Fe, and also is tasked with administering federal Housing Choice aid vouchers — previously known as Section 8 vouchers — through U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Founded in 1962 as a division of the city of Santa Fe before breaking off in 1989, the publicly funded organization is involved with about 15 properties in the region, most in Santa Fe, and manages a number of them. In its pipeline are a series of projects — including construction of the new 60-unit Ocate Apartments on the city's south side and the rehabilitation and expansion of Country Club Apartments on Airport Road, bringing it to 84 units. Ocate Apartments rendering An early rendering of the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority's Ocate Apartments, which it plans to build with the help of a $16.2 million low-income housing tax credit approved by the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority. The authority partners with other entities to help build or remodel affordable housing using the federal government's Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. It also seeks to control properties that offer affordable housing so those units remain in that status. The housing authority received nearly $29 million in tax credits in May from the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, also known as Housing New Mexico, including $12.4 million for the renovation of Country Club Apartments. Romero said the housing authority hopes to start construction on Ocate Apartments soon so units can be leased by the end of 2026. The project will cost $22.7 million, with $14.2 million in tax credits. The organization recently purchased for $2.75 million the "general partnership" of three Santa Fe affordable housing apartment complexes with a combined 205 units. The authority will be the general partner in these agreements, owning less than 1% of the complexes, while the limited partners will receive tax credits. The partnerships for the 83-unit Soleras Station off Rail Runner Road, the 62-unit Village Sage across from Capital High School and the 60-unit Stage Coach Apartments were purchased by the housing authority late last year. "What we've done is we've taken over the responsibility to manage these properties for the rest of their [land use restriction agreements] period, in accordance with the limited partnership, so that our limited partner can continue to receive their tax credits," Romero said, adding the goal is to keep affordable units "affordable forever." The organization is trying to find a way to bring 44 acres it owns off Rufina Street into play over the next two years, he said, noting part of it falls within the bounds of Agua Fría village, a state-designated traditional historic community, on one side of the street. "Their zoning requirements are pretty tight — three units to an acre," Romero said. "To do affordable housing, you need 20 units to an acre, so that side street probably won't develop a lot of affordable housing. It might just turn into a homeownership kind of place, and a small affordable apartment complex, maybe nine to 12 units." 061024_LS_HousingAuthority_4_RGB.jpg Country Club Apartments on Airport Road has become so old that the property is going to need 'a complete remodel down to the studs," said Ed Romero, director of the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority. The portion of the 44-acre property on the other side of the street is within city limits, and the organization wants to do something bigger there, such as 200-unit complex, Romero said. "In the meantime, we just hope for better economic days so we can pull that project off," he said. While the housing authority also administers federal vouchers — about $9 million worth in 2024 — the waitlist for the program has closed; inflation and rising rent costs have raised concerns there will not be enough HUD money to cover costs for those already in the program. "We're concerned that we are not going to have enough subsidy to get through this year, and we don't know what's going to happen next year," Romero said of the vouchers. "Even if we had someone on the waitlist, we can't house anybody for the foreseeable future in the voucher program." Residents feel priced out It is easy to rattle off the ominous statistics for many living in the City Different or looking to move here: The average home price has risen by almost 70% since 2018 — with a median price of $570,000 in the first quarter of 2025, according to the Santa Fe Association of Realtors. The website RentCafe reported the city's average monthly rent cost is $1,785. Accessing federal aid to help cover rent payments isn't easy. Eddie Padilla and his wife, Jessica Padilla, lifelong residents of Santa Fe, live in an unsubsidized unit at the Country Club Apartments. That could change soon. Although many who live in the complex receive federal housing vouchers, Eddie Padilla said he does not qualify for the aid. He works two jobs — as a meat cutter and a caregiver — and still struggles to cover his rent and other costs of living in the city where he grew up. "I consider myself middle class. I make OK money, but being able to pay $2,500 for two bedrooms — I can't do that," Padilla said. "I use to live downtown, and I had to move away because rent [was up to] $2,000, $3,000, you know. I'm on the outskirts now. Before you know it, I'm going to be in Albuquerque," Padilla said. Jessica Padilla agreed — and believes it's the longtime residents of Santa Fe, families who have lived in the city for generations, who are being priced out the most. "The people who have been here for so long, we can't live here anymore because of it," she said, adding it seems a higher volume of people are moving into the city from outside the state. "What's happening with that is they are pushing all of us out," her husband added. "We're already considering moving to another town because we can't afford to live here anymore," he said. "I'm working two jobs and we're barely making it. You go try to go get help from somewhere, and they're like, 'Nope, you don't qualify; you make too much money.' ' Long wait for a home Susan Hayes, a tenant at the Stage Coach Apartments, appreciates the aesthetics of the place, with its old neon "Stage Coach Motor Inn" sign on Cerrillos Road. A framed poster for the 1971 cult classic Two-Lane Blacktop, a road movie starring James Taylor that was filmed on Cerrillos Road, hangs on the wall of the office. Hayes moved back to Santa Fe from Pecos in 2021 when her rental situation there fell through. She feared she would have to sleep in her car because of the high housing costs, but someone suggested she call the Stage Coach Apartments. "It's affordable for me," Hayes said of the complex. "I know a lot of it is a sliding scale, depending on what your income is, because I know I pay more than some people but less than others." 050125_GC_StageCoach04rgb.jpg The Stage Coach Apartments on Cerrillos Road. The longtime motel has been converted to low-income housing. She added, "There's so little in the way of housing that's affordable. It's always been terrible in Santa Fe. It's just a really expensive place to live if you're an ordinary person with an ordinary job." Kimball, a retired caregiver, feels she has one of the best units at Stage Coach, but she knows well how daunting the waitlists can be to get into such places. While waiting for a unit to open up, she lived with a woman she had been caring for. Kimball had another client who lived at the Stage Coach with a housing voucher. She decided she wanted to live there, too. But the waitlist was long. Kimball waited nearly four years for a unit. "People come in here and they stay," she said, adding she "never gave up" during those years of waiting. "For us people on Social Security, it's subsidized. So I pay $480, plus my electricity and my water, for this beautiful place," Kimball said of her two-room unit. "It's a dollhouse. I love it," she said.
