{"id":1483,"date":"2007-03-28T15:26:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-28T21:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/denish-signs-housing-authority-overhaul-bill\/"},"modified":"2007-03-28T15:26:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-28T21:26:00","slug":"denish-signs-housing-authority-overhaul-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/denish-signs-housing-authority-overhaul-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Denish signs housing authority overhaul bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> signed into law today a bill designed to stabilize the state\u2019s scandal-plagued regional housing authority system while officials determine the next course of action. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a good day,\u201d Denish said after the bill signing.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The bill takes effect immediately, so the housing authorities have been stripped of bonding authority and now have significant oversight. The legislation doesn\u2019t help restart authorities in Albuquerque<\/st1:city> and Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> that have shut down. It instead places immediate checks on those that are still functioning and funds an audit of the system to determine the appropriate course of action.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Senate Bill 519<\/a>, sponsored by Sen. Mary Kay Papen<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, keeps the regional housing authorities in existence, but puts in place extensive oversight: Bonding and eminent domain authority now belong to the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority<\/a>; the Department of Finance and Administration and state treasurer have roles in administering finances; and the authorities are required to submit quarterly audits \u2013 most agencies have to submit them annually \u2013 to the DFA.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

The bill-signing ceremony was held this afternoon at the offices of the MFA in Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Denish, who is chair of the MFA board, signed the bill because Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> is on the East Coast campaigning for president, but the governor, in a news release, applauded the bill\u2019s signing.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a major victory for ethics, fairness and reform,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Papen is in Ireland<\/st1:country-region> and could not attend the ceremony, but released a statement thanking Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> and, especially, Denish for pushing the bill.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cOur Do\u00f1a Ana Regional Housing Authority was in crisis and Lt. Gov. Denish was willing to step forward and work with me to take on the difficult task of fighting to restore the public trust and fixing a system long overdue for reform,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Audit will help determine next course of action<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The bill also appropriates $200,000 to the state auditor to fund an audit that will determine the extent of mismanagement that led to some of the authorities shutting down amid scandal last year. The Region III authority, based in Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, defaulted last year on $5 million in bonds it owed the state. Those bonds were to be spent on affordable housing projects, but almost $900,000 went to former Region III Director Vincent \u201cSmiley\u201d Gallegos as salary, benefits and a questionable loan. Some $700,000 was loaned to the Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> authority for administrative costs.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Four of the seven authorities are at least a year behind on the completion of audits, and many fear the problems might go far beyond the bond money. The attorney general is investigating, but the new audit is critical to finding answers, officials say. It must be complete by Dec. 1, but State Auditor Hector Balderas<\/a> hopes to have it finished by the end of the summer.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThere have been numerous concerns raised about the fiscal management of the regional housing authority system,\u201d Balderas said. \u201cNew Mexican taxpayers deserve answers to the questions surrounding the administration of this important program, which provides New Mexicans access to affordable housing. I\u2019m committed to holding the regional housing authorities fully accountable for their practices.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The final bill was a compromise that followed more than a week of tense negotiations during the regular session. A prior version of the bill would have immediately abolished the housing authorities and replaced them with a system overseen entirely by the MFA. After a House committee killed that version of the bill, with many of its members saying it was premature to scrap the entire system, lawmakers, Denish and Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> began working on a compromise.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Denish said the system put in place today will \u201cbuild a structure for those authorities that are working,\u201d and the audit will help officials determine where to go next. One possibility is that assets of the defunct authorities could be transferred to local affordable housing operations. The Legislature might also be asked next year to approve legislation that establishes a more permanent system.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Nothing is certain until Balderas\u2019 office completes the audit.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, after a year of getting everything stabilized, then we will be able to provide more funding for affordable housing,\u201d Denish said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish signed into law today a bill designed to stabilize the state\u2019s scandal-plagued regional housing authority system while officials determine the next course of action. \u201cIt is a good day,\u201d Denish said after the bill signing. The bill takes effect immediately, so the housing authorities have been stripped of bonding authority and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}