Legislative Finance Committee staff delivered a broad briefing on housing, homelessness and recent state housing appropriations, underscoring gaps in data and the range of state and local programs now in development.

Ruby Ann Esquivel, principal analyst with the Legislative Finance Committee, reviewed federal and state counts. She said U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) point‑in‑time data show growth in homelessness in New Mexico, including a 48% increase between 2022 and 2023 in HUD’s count, while a Department of Health analysis using hospital records produced a substantially higher figure. Esquivel explained the methodological difference: HUD conducts a point‑in‑time count in winter that captures people in shelters and visible locations, whereas the DOH hospital record analysis counts patients who reported no fixed address at hospital admission and therefore can yield a larger estimate.

Staff summarized major state funding actions from the 2025 session. The General Appropriation Act provided $119 million to support housing and homelessness initiatives (the packet described the appropriation as nonrecurring), though some line items and locality earmarks in the original bill were vetoed by the governor. Legislative Finance staff flagged the new Office of Housing administrative move into the Department of Workforce Solutions; staff said they will review the office’s workplan to ensure it does not duplicate existing Mortgage Finance Authority (doing business as Housing New Mexico) or New Mexico Finance Authority programs.

The briefing cataloged local initiatives. In Albuquerque, the newly established Health, Housing and Homelessness Department and the Gateway Center provide medical respite, a 50‑bed sobering unit, shelter capacity and family housing; the city has also stood up an Albuquerque Community Safety civilian response system to divert appropriate calls from 911. Housing developers and Albuquerque nonprofit partners have produced thousands of housing units and are pursuing infill and rental projects targeted at households between very low‑income and 80% of area median income.

The Mortgage Finance Authority (MFA), operating as Housing New Mexico, reported several programs that preserve and create affordable units, a new landlord incentive that provides up to $12,500 per unit to landlords who accept vouchers to rehabilitate and re‑rent units, and a 0%/low‑interest builder program to stimulate additional construction. The New Mexico Finance Authority’s new housing development revolving loan fund, created by recent legislation, has already approved loans for several workforce housing projects and retains remaining capacity for future projects.

Staff emphasized that multiple programs—state agencies, NMFA/MFA and local governments—are operating concurrently and that the Legislature will continue to confront tradeoffs among capital funding, rental subsidies and regulatory reforms (for example, zoning and Medicaid/Medicare eligibility rules that affect housing for workforce and for special populations). Analysts recommended legislative oversight of the Office of Housing’s operating plan and suggested further attention to aligning state funding with data improvement to better track who is served and where.