In a move to address what is thought to be a roughly 5,600-unit shortfall of affordable housing, the City of Las Cruces has placed on this fall’s ballot a question asking for $6 million to fund new housing projects.
The ballot question will appear as a general obligation bond proposal and is one of four such bonds confronting Las Cruces voters in the November election.
If approved, the $6 million will be used to leverage significantly larger funding coming out of both Santa Fe and Washington for new housing construction.
The bond language more specifically says that the $6 million will be implemented to “provide resources to plan, design, construct, acquire, and preserve affordable housing” for residents classified as living in low to moderate income households.
The bond funding will, as part of the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, also be used to acquire needed land.
In an interview with the Las Cruces Bulletin, Natalie Green, housing and neighborhood services manager with the City of Las Cruces, asserted that construction of such new housing could be characterized as a “catalyst for economic development.”
Green added that the new housing construction will most likely occur at sites throughout the city.
City officials have also said that they would like to see at least 300 new affordable housing units built and completed within the next three years.
By Garry Boulard
