{"id":4303,"date":"2009-03-02T17:27:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-02T23:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/03\/senate-approves-housing-authority-reform\/"},"modified":"2009-03-02T17:27:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-02T23:27:00","slug":"senate-approves-housing-authority-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/03\/senate-approves-housing-authority-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate approves housing authority reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Senate unanimously approved today a bill that would overhaul the state\u2019s affordable housing system in response to the scandalous 2006 collapse of most of the state\u2019s regional housing authorities.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 20<\/a>, sponsored by Mary Kay Papen<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, now moves to the House. The bill would increase oversight and completely restructure the system. An initial funding request of $600,000 was stripped from the bill before today\u2019s vote because of the state\u2019s budget crunch, but Papen still hopes to secure a portion of the required funding in the budget bill so the transition can begin.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cOur state\u2019s tragedy is that some of the housing authorities we created to help with providing (affordable) housing have run themselves off the track,\u201d Papen said in a news release. \u201cSenate Bill 20 is designed to help get the train back on the track.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill has the support of Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a>. The lieutenant governor has led the way, along with Papen and Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a>, R-Albuquerque, toward reform of the system in response to the scandal.<\/p>\n

Most of the housing authority system crumbled in 2006 when the Albuquerque-based Region III Housing Authority defaulted on $5 million in bonds it owed the state. Soon thereafter, the State Investment Council<\/a> released a report<\/a> that found widespread misuse of the bond money, which was supposed to be spent on houses. Last month, the state auditor released long-awaited special audits<\/a> that confirmed the problems.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Gary King<\/a> has been investigating and is preparing to take the case before a grand jury.<\/p>\n

Some of the reforms in Papen\u2019s bill include consolidating the seven regional authorities into three, designating an oversight agency to oversee regional operations, strengthening conflict-of-interest language, permanently eliminating the authorities\u2019 ability to issue bonds and requiring that transactions of over $100,000 be reviewed and approved by the mortgage finance authority<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That builds on reforms approved in 2007<\/a>, when the Legislature and Denish, signing the bill in the place of the governor, temporarily stripped the housing authorities\u2019 bonding authority and gave the Department of Finance and Administration and state treasurer roles in administering the agencies\u2019 finances.<\/p>\n

Denish, in a news release, applauded today\u2019s Senate approval of Papen\u2019s bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially now, we\u2019ve got to protect taxpayer dollars and stimulate rural economies. Proper oversight will also help our regional housing centers expand housing rehabilitation and development services to more families. Homeownership and home improvement for our low- and middle- income families builds wealth and stability in our communities,\u201d Denish said. \u201cWe\u2019re now sending the bill to the House, and I urge them to help in passing this necessary legislation for New Mexico\u2019s families.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate unanimously approved today a bill that would overhaul the state\u2019s affordable housing system in response to the scandalous 2006 collapse of most of the state\u2019s regional housing authorities. Senate Bill 20, sponsored by Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, now moves to the House. The bill would increase oversight and completely restructure the system. […]<\/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-4303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4303","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=4303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}