State funding has been secured for a project in Las Cruces that will see the building of a new affordable housing project spearheaded by a well-known local nonprofit.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has given her signature to a nearly $6 million capital outlay approved earlier this year by New Mexico lawmakers to help build a supportive housing complex that will house some 50 units.
The official address of what is being called Amador Crossing is 1101 W. Amador, within the boundaries of the existing Mesilla Valley Community of Hope Campus.
The MVCH began operations in early 1998, building a $1.6 million facility in the 900 block of W. Amador and dedicating itself to the mission of providing a host of services to the homeless.
In 2011 it garnered media attention when it opened a facility called Camp Hope, a designated tent community on land it owned, for up to 50 people or so. Five years later, the group built a $65,000 shower and bathroom facility on the same site.
The Camp Hope effort was subsequently lauded in a report published by the National League of Cities, noting that the site “crucially allows those experiencing homelessness to live with dignity while in transition to more permanent and stable housing.”
The City of Las Cruces has been historically supportive of the efforts of the MVCH, approving a $4 million purchase for nearly 5 acres of land once owned by the Brewer Oil Company to be used for the nonprofit’s purpose.
According to city information, the new MVCH facility will accommodate what are described as “chronically homeless residents,” in a space designed to assist residents to “heal, stabilize, and grow.”
The project is currently in the planning and design stage.
By Garry Boulard
