Affordable housing committee to meet in Las Cruces

The legislative committee that oversees the state’s affordable housing system will meet Monday in Las Cruces.

The Legislative Mortgage Finance Authority Act Oversight Committee will hear updates from the two regional housing authorities still operating after the rest of the system crumbled amid scandal last year, and will also learn about and tour affordable housing projects in Doña Ana County, according to the agenda.

The meeting begins at 10 a.m. in the Barbara Hubbard Room at the Pan American Center on the New Mexico State University campus. It is open to the public.

“During this meeting we will be continuing our review of the challenges and opportunities our state faces in the area of affordable housing, and this includes a review of the performance of our regional housing authorities,” said Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, D-Santa Fe and chair of the committee.

Republican Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson is the only member of the committee from Doña Ana County.

Most of the state’s affordable housing system collapsed last year when the Albuquerque-based Region III authority defaulted on $5 million in bonds it owed the state. Those bonds were to be spent on affordable housing projects, but almost $900,000 instead went to the former director as salary, benefits and a questionable loan, and some $700,000 was loaned to the Las Cruces-based Region VII authority for administrative costs.

The state auditor is currently conducting a review to try to determine the extent of the problems, and the attorney general is investigating.

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