Home, Sweet, Affordable Home: What You Can Do

From New Mexico Voices for Children E-Voices:
Owning a home can have a positive impact on every aspect of a family’s life – home-owning gives a family more stability and safety, and makes them invested members of their community. Children are healthier and do better in school when their parents own a home. But for too many families, the great American Dream of owning a home is just that – a dream.

To help address this issue, Albuquerque City Councilors Debbie O’Malley and Isaac Benton have cosponsored the Workforce Housing Opportunities Act. The Act would provide much-needed resources for nonprofit and for-profit developers to build high-quality, mixed-income housing projects that would include new and rehabilitated homes. The new homes would be built as infill in areas that are already experiencing revitalization, are along public transit corridors, and have existing infrastructure such as schools.

The plan would free families from what’s called “rent burden,” promote diversity, and improve older neighborhoods while stemming gentrification. Not only do too many rent-burdened families spend up to half of their income on rent, they also never build equity.

The Act specifies that the public dollars be used in a way that preserves affordability for future working families – which is the same philosophy embraced by Habitat for Humanity.

What You Can Do:

• Call or email your city councilor and the mayor and ask them to support the Workforce Housing Opportunities Act. Call 768-3100, click here for links to each councilor’s email address https://www.cabq.gov/council/ccmeet.html, or send a group email to citycouncil@cabq.gov. Reach the mayor’s office at 768-3019 or email mayor@cabq.gov.
• Attend the City Council meeting on Monday, August 21^st when this bill is expected to be brought up again. City Council meetings are held in the basement of City Hall (at 5^th St. and Marquette NW) and usually begin after 5pm. Show up early if you want to sign up to comment.
• Read up on the act by visiting the website of 1000 Friends of New Mexico, the group that’s behind the push to get this legislation passed: https://www.1000friends-nm.org/WorkforceHousing06.htm
• Read an op-ed written by Councilor O’Malley that was published in the Albuquerque Tribune: .com/albq/op_commentaries/article/0,2565,ALBQ_19866_4871585,00.html