Bernalillo County asks state for major housing investments, highlights behavioral-health housing

At a news conference at the Bernalillo County Rotunda, county officials outlined legislative priorities and asked the state Legislature to fund a slate of housing and behavioral-health housing projects intended to expand affordable units, senior housing and transitional housing for people in recovery.

Commissioner Adrianne Barbova, vice chair and District 3 commissioner, said the county and the City of Albuquerque have developed “ambitious, creative, and thoughtful solutions” and asked lawmakers for specific funding requests. “We are requesting $2,000,000 to build and furnish cottages and renovate a former clinic for use as affordable and transitional housing in the International District,” Barbova said.

The nut of the county’s pitch is a joint request with the city for $100,000,000 intended to create 2,000 new housing units and rehabilitate more than 800 existing units; Barbova said the larger joint request would total about $79,000,000 in the county’s messaging. She also said $51,000,000 could finish eight projects already under construction within a year, and that the county last year received $3,000,000 in state funds used to acquire four properties for future affordable housing projects, three of them in the International District.

Barbova listed smaller, targeted requests: $1,500,000 to build and furnish a 60-unit complex on county-owned property at 6th and Cole for low- and moderate-income seniors, and $500,000 for major upgrades to about 75 homes in the El Centro and Seville Village housing developments, which serve low-income seniors and residents with physical challenges. She said the county is pursuing mixed-income infill development and working with private-sector and nonprofit partners.

"If you live in Albuquerque, one of these improvements, increased housing, is coming to a neighborhood near you," Barbova said, referring to projects scattered across the city’s four quadrants.

State legislators at the news conference voiced support. "We are looking to find traditional and more creative solutions to housing in the 60-day session this year," Representative Janelle Newnorno, House District 19, said, noting a previous $2,000,000 investment in a community land trust meant to expand homeownership opportunities. Senator Debbie O'Malley said she supports gap funding for projects, including senior housing downtown and a proposed multifamily cooperative housing pilot at the Sawmill Community Land Trust.

The county framed housing as closely linked with behavioral-health recovery. Dr. Wayne Lindstrom, deputy county manager for behavioral health, said stable housing is a foundational component of recovery and described existing county programs. "Tiny Home Village is one of our more innovative programs, providing up to 24 months of transitional housing alongside care management and wraparound services," Lindstrom said, adding the site is on Zuni. He also described the CARE campus (formerly MATS) and a family-wellness shelter operating in a hotel where families live alongside commercial guests.

For behavioral-health housing, Lindstrom said the county is requesting roughly $33,000,000 as part of the county’s share of a broader joint ask. He described three projects in that request: a $20,000,000, 30-unit transitional housing project for people in extended recovery stays (up to two years); a $7,000,000 hotel conversion to add roughly 100–150 rooms for families and seniors for stays up to six months; and approximately $6,000,000 to expand tiny-home villages with three additional sites serving up to about 90 individuals for stays up to nine months.

Lindstrom cited research and clinical experience to argue that many people experiencing homelessness have severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders and that temporary shelter without treatment and supports does not produce sustainable recovery. "If we're simply providing temporary shelter without the kinds of treatment and supports for individuals who are homeless, we're not sending them on the trajectory to recovery," he said.

County officials emphasized that the figures are requests to the Legislature, not appropriations or approvals. The county asked state lawmakers and the governor to support the funding and called on community partners to sustain supportive services for residents who move into transitional housing.

The news conference combined policy detail with examples of existing county programs and past state funding, and county leaders said projects are ready to proceed if the requested funds are approved. The officials did not report any formal votes or legislative commitments at the event.

Ending: The county’s requests will be considered in the 60-day legislative session; county leaders said they will continue to brief state lawmakers and community partners as proposals advance.