Scheduled to begin its 2027 session on January 19, the New Mexico State Legislature will review a new proposal dealing with the state’s ongoing housing shortage, a shortage that is estimated at around 58,000 units.
A group called the Housing Abundance! Coalition has announced that it is going to ask lawmakers to address issues related to streamlining zoning regulations and expanding funding options.
In an interview with the publication Source NM, Miles Dylan Conway, spokesperson for the group, said lawmakers are often confronted with bills concerning housing that are contradictory and competing. “I think that is very frustrating for everybody,” he remarked.
Conway, who is also chief executive officer for the New Mexico Home Builders Association, said the Housing Abundance! Coalition wants to see more incentives offered to local governments to update their zoning policies, while also expanding the use of mortgage buydowns that are funded by the State of New Mexico.
The group is additionally interested in getting rid of the gross receipts tax on affordable and market-rate housing construction. An additional priority: increasing housing construction in the vast rural sections of the state.
The need for more housing in the Land of Enchantment has grown as new home construction has become smaller. According to a report released last month by the Mercatus Center, which is housed at George Mason University, overall building permits for all sized housing units declined in the state from more than 14,000 in 2005 to just under 8,000 last year.
The report additionally noted that New Mexico’s housing challenges in recent years has been exacerbated by “constrained housing supply near major job centers, shrinking household sizes across the state, and aging housing stock in rural areas.”
September 14, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of State of New Mexico
