Middle Rio Grande Housing Collaborative Holds First Meeting

The Middle Rio Grande Housing Collaborative (MRGHC) was created through a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) between the city and county designed to address the overwhelming need for affordable housing. The first meeting of the newly created MRGHC will be held Thursday, March 28th at 3:00 p.m. at the Mid Region Council of Governments. The members include Talia Freedman, Dan Majewski, Serge Martinez and Lawrence Rael and will select a fifth member.

The JPA outlines several initiatives within the county and city including surveying the locations where affordable housing exists, identifying areas where gaps in service are occurring, acquisition of vacant land for future projects, identifying current buildings that could be renovated for housing, building relationships with developers and utilizing economic development tools and public infrastructure to spur private development.

“This collaborative took many months to come together and I am excited about the work of the members that will result in tangible solutions to the housing crises we are currently facing,” says Commission Chair Barbara Baca. “By combining our resources and revenue, we can more effectively address the needs of our constituents and leverage federal and state funding for much-needed affordable housing.”

“The MRGHC is a unique approach to providing badly needed affordable housing that will allow nimble responses to development needs,” says City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn. “This is exactly the kind of collaborative approach to housing that we need in our community; I'm anxious to start seeing results!”