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Albuquerque, Bernalillo County ask state for millions to speed housing and homeless services; officials outline 21 projects
Summary
City and county officials told the Appropriations & Finance Committee they can accelerate more than 2,700 units of housing statewide with state backing, and asked for a combined $100 million in immediate funding plus other targeted requests to expand shelter alternatives, medical sobering and vouchers to move unhoused people into housing faster.
Albuquerque and Bernalillo County officials asked the Legislative Appropriations & Finance Committee on Feb. 4 to help accelerate a set of housing and homelessness projects they say are development‑ready or could be moved to shovel‑ready status with state financing and operating support.
Why it matters: panelists said a combined, rapid infusion of capital and operating support would both create permanently affordable housing and shorten the time unhoused residents spend in emergency shelters. The local burden of homelessness is concentrated in Albuquerque; officials said doing nothing will require continuing, high operating outlays for emergency services instead of housing people.
What local officials told the committee: Gilbert Ramirez, director of health, housing and homelessness for the city of Albuquerque, and Cindy Chavez, Bernalillo County manager, presented a list of 21 projects (eight under construction or ready to advance) with an estimated combined funding gap of roughly $237 million for the Albuquerque/Bernalillo pipeline. They said state funds could be leveraged with local, federal and private contributions to produce about 2,700 new or rehabilitated units across the city/county initiatives.
City and county asks and priorities - City/County request: the city and county asked the committee to consider a $100 million allocation to accelerate local projects and to reduce immediate shelter pressure while more units come online. - Homelessness and behavioral health: panelists identified a separate state ask to fund supportive and transitional services, including a $79 million item in the behavioral health package that local officials said would support staffing, recovery housing and crisis response tied to new units and to services such as mobile crisis teams. Officials also emphasized the need to expand vouchers and short‑term rental assistance to move people into housing once units are available. - Targeted projects: Albuquerque highlighted Gateway West (renovated shelter space in an acquired hospital), a newly completed medical‑sobering facility and a CARES behavioral‑health campus that will be used to connect detox, treatment and transitional housing. The city said Gateway West and several hotel conversion projects can take occupants quickly if vouchers and placement support are provided.
Funding math and program notes - Vouchers and operational support: officials told the committee their current local voucher investments support several hundred placements; they said the average cost per person for long‑term permanent supportive housing is roughly $12,000–$14,000 per year — far less than the recurring costs of emergency care or incarceration that housing avoids. - Leverage: the city and county said $100 million in state capital could leverage roughly $300–$500 million in total capital when combined with local, federal and private finance for the listed projects. - Housing New Mexico: Izzy Hernandez, executive director of Housing New Mexico, said the statewide housing trust has already distributed roughly $122 million in the prior 17 months and that the nonprofit network has encumbered a large share of that money; Housing New Mexico is seeking larger, multi‑year support (the group’s legislation is Senate Bill 145, which asks for $500 million for the statewide fund).
Local officials’ immediate needs and timetable: Albuquerque told the committee it could expand motel conversion projects and open navigation centers and recovery microvillages within months if capital and operating commitments were made. For larger multifamily developments, officials said a 12–24 month construction cycle is typical but eight shovel‑ready projects could move faster with rapid funding.
Ending: Committee members asked city and county staff for follow‑up analyses tying specific dollar amounts to clear placement outcomes (for example, how many unhoused people could be moved into permanent housing within 12 months if X million in capital and Y million in vouchers were provided). Officials said they would return with detailed programmatic estimates and with requests for operating funds to support the new beds and navigation centers.
