Lisa Huval
This week, the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness (NMCEH) will be releasing “Locked Out: NM Housing Crisis Impacts All State Legislative Districts,” which ranks state legislative districts on the extent that renters and homeowners in those districts – including low-income working families, senior citizens, and people with disabilities – can afford housing.
Locked Out shows that across the state, New Mexicans are struggling to pay for housing. The least affordable House and Senate districts were in Santa Fe. The second-least affordable House and Senate districts were in Albuquerque. The highest scoring district were in the southeast corner of New Mexico, but even those districts only scored a 61 out of a possible 100 points.
A score of 100 would have indicated that all renters and homeowners in that district – including low-income working families, senior citizens, and people with disabilities – had homes they could afford.
We know that when households are paying a large portion of their income toward the rent or mortgage, their housing situation is likely to be unstable. Families, senior citizens and people with disabilities who live in unaffordable housing must move often as rents increase, must live in overcrowded conditions or substandard housing, are forced to double-up with families and friends or, in the worst-case scenario, become homeless, sleeping in their cars and in shelters.
This means that thousands of kids have been returning to school over the last month without the stability they need to succeed. Research shows that not having a safe, stable home is hard on kids, impacting both their emotional and physical health. Kids who live in unaffordable housing and who experience homelessness have more physical health problems and emotional health problems than those living in affordable housing. This makes it hard for them to thrive and succeed in school.
Housing instability is also hard on adults. Parents who cannot find an affordable home for their family often must work multiple jobs to pay the rent or mortgage or take time off from work to take care of their children, who may have health issues that are exacerbated by substandard housing conditions. This makes it hard for them to climb the career ladder or obtain a better education, and for those who are renters there is often not enough money left over each to month to save for a down payment to put them on the path to homeownership.
Adults with chronic illness and disabilities and senior citizens need stable, affordable housing in order to take care of themselves. Having stable, affordable housing allows them to keep their medical appointments and stick to their medication routine, and be able to afford nutritious food and necessary medications.
We can invest in affordable housing now
Locked Out shows that across New Mexico, thousands of families, senior citizens and people with disabilities are struggling to thrive and succeed – because they cannot find a safe, affordable home. Unfortunately, New Mexico does not have a strong history of investing in affordable homes to meet the needs of the people of New Mexico. In 2005, the Legislature took an important step toward doing so by establishing the N.M. Housing Trust Fund and capitalizing it with $10 million. Those dollars were used to develop affordable housing projects – both rental and homeownership – across the state. From 2006-2008, the N.M. Housing Trust Fund only received $1 million to $2 million, and in 2009 and 2010 it did not receive any funding at all.
Many people might think our state cannot afford to invest in affordable housing right now. But we can, and we should. Other states have created dedicated funding sources for their housing trust funds that do not involve dipping into their general funds, and as a result they are able help thousands of families, senior citizens and people with disabilities move into safe, affordable homes.
Locked Out shows that New Mexico needs to do the same so that New Mexicans across our state have the affordable homes they need to thrive and succeed.
Huval is the policy and advocacy director for the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, where she advocates for solutions to homelessness at the local, state and federal level.