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State housing office outlines rehab, weatherization and homelessness supports; lawmakers press for scale and data
Summary
Housing New Mexico described weatherization (Energy Smart) and homeowner rehab programs, the ROC homeownership initiative, rental assistance and Linkages vouchers; legislators asked for county-level distribution, performance metrics and plans to scale services to meet much larger unmet need.
Housing New Mexico presented the suite of programs that preserve housing stock and support people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and lawmakers pressed for more granular data and additional funding to expand coverage.
Donna Maestas De Vries, chief housing officer, and Kelly Tillerson, director of Community Development, explained three core programs: the Energy Smart Weatherization Assistance Program (state, federal and utility funding totaling about $10.6 million serving roughly 900 families annually and prioritizing households with children, seniors and people with disabilities); the homeowner rehabilitation program (federal HOME funds of about $5.5 million annually assisting about 45 homeowners, with per-home assistance in the $60,000–$200,000 range and a federal rule that post-rehab value cannot exceed 95% of appraised value); and the Restoring Our Communities (ROC) single-family acquisition/rehab/resale program funded with Housing Trust Fund dollars (~$5.5M, ~30 families/year currently).
The presenters described two rehab-delivery models: a traditional NOFA administered by nonprofit/tribal/local government providers, and a direct-service model run by Housing New Mexico for counties without providers (named counties include McKinley, Rio Arriba, San Juan, Union, Harding, Quay, Guadalupe). Weatherization services are delivered statewide through three providers: Central New Mexico Housing Corporation, Southwest Regional Housing & Community Development, and Red Feather Development Group (focusing on the Navajo Nation).
On homelessness programs, the agency said federal ESG/state homeless assistance funding of about $1.16 million supports shelter operations and emergency assistance (serving ~4,000 people), and state and federal rental-assistance programs total roughly $4.5 million and assist about 3,300 people annually. The Linkages permanent supportive housing program — targeted to people with serious mental illness and administered with the state's Behavioral Health Services division — was increased by the Legislature this year from about $5.2 million to roughly $10.2 million, adding approximately 150 vouchers.
Committee members repeatedly asked how to scale programs that currently serve hundreds to a few thousand people annually but fall short of state need estimates; members requested distribution charts, wait-list data, HMIS/APR outcome reports and county-level breakdowns. Presenters said they would provide the committee the requested data and noted a statewide housing strategy update is underway that should deliver more complete needs and gap analyses by the legislative session.
No formal committee action occurred; legislators asked the agency for follow-up documentation and urged that program metrics be used to justify any future budget requests.
