Mayor Keller Highlights “ABQ at Home” Initiative
Sept. 14, 2021
Today, Mayor Tim Keller and City leaders discussed “ABQ at Home,” highlighting a four-pronged approach to helping Albuquerque residents get into and stay in their homes. As a housing shortage continues across the country, the City of Albuquerque is developing more housing units, providing support for those who need help getting into a home, and assisting with costly home repairs to keep families in their homes. Over the past four years, the City has invested and leveraged nearly $450 million for housing.
“Every family deserves a safe and secure place to call home but we know that especially after the pandemic, that is getting harder to find,” said Mayor Tim Keller. “We have made historic investments in affordable housing support and solutions for the unhoused. Now, we are doubling down with more opportunities for families to find and keep a place to live.”
ABQ at Home covers four categories of housing support:
- Creating New Affordable and Market-Rate Housing
- Supportive Housing Vouchers
- Home Rehabilitation “Neighborhood Opportunity Grants”
- Rental and Down Payment Assistance
“Keeping families in their homes is very important to me,” said Councilor Klarissa Peña. “The four-pronged approach will be the catalyst to ensure that families will be able to stay together in their own homes.”
Since 2018, the City has completed affordable housing projects with over $18 million of City investment, creating over 350 affordable rental units either through new construction or acquisition and rehabilitation. Another $17 million has been invested during that time to develop 269 more affordable housing units. With these investments, the City has leveraged millions in funding from HUD, Workforce Housing Trust Fund, and others for affordable housing.
City funding for supportive housing vouchers has increased by 73% since 2018 to over $11 million in FY22. The Department of Family & Community Services (FCS) works with community partners to administer the vouchers and estimates that 1,000 households will receive support through this program in FY22.
“Under Mayor Keller, the City has expanded its investments in proven solutions to homelessness, such as supportive housing,” said Lisa Huval, Deputy Director of Housing and Homelessness. “The City will continue to leverage funding to create more supportive, affordable, and market rate housing, as well as aiding in home rehabilitation to keep people safely housed.”
The housing shortage is not limited to housing for low to moderate-income residents and the City of Albuquerque’s Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency (MRA) is working to develop more market rate housing. Throughout the pandemic, there has been a need for more housing as people move to Albuquerque. MRA has supported private-public projects to create almost 600 new housing units since 2018 and has another 720 planned.
“There is a strong demand for housing in Albuquerque right now due to recent economic development announcements resulting in thousands of jobs, coupled with low interest rates,” said Karen Iverson, MRA Manager. “We are taking action by increasing supply, partnering on 590 housing units since 2018, and bringing another 720 online.”
FCS is also set to receive $3.3 million in ARPA funding for home rehabilitation grants. The City will give “Neighborhood Opportunity Grants” to low to moderate-income households to make repairs in their current homes. More information on these grants will be available as the City gets closer to opening applications for the program.
As the pandemic threatened the stability of families across Albuquerque, the City has directed millions in federal funding to help renters keep up with rent and utility payments and has distributed 100% of the $24 million that it allocated, a rate that far exceeds the national average. The City also continues to invest in down payment assistance, with a $3.4 million allocated since 2018, helping Burqueños become homeowners.