On October 18, 2022 Mayor Tim Keller announced his “Housing Forward ABQ Plan.” Mayor Keller set the goal for the City of Albuquerque to add 5,000 new subsidized housing units across the city by 2025 above and beyond what private industry normally creates each year. Keller called the 5,000 goal as “extremely ambitious.” According to Keller, the city is in a major “housing crisis” and the city needs as many as 33,000 new housing units.
Fast forward to October 1, 2024. With three months left until 2025, Mayor Keller admitted that his goal of the city subsidizing 5,000 new housing units by 2025 was too ambitious and that only 2,000 housing units have been subsidized. Keller said this:
“… I wish that we would have said 2027. …We are a little short, based on our timeline, and our timeline was probably a little aggressive, but we’re at 2,000 for sure right now. And we do have another 300 units in the pipeline. … We’ve made a ton of progress. … It just takes a little longer than we thought to subsidize 5,000 units of new housing.”
Mayor Keller blamed the New Mexico Legislature and City Council for the city falling short on his goal of 5,000 subsidized housing units. Keller said this:
“We did not get the funding we thought we would [from the legislature] … Primarily last legislative session. We asked for $50 million and we got $6.4 [million].”
Keller went so far as to blame the City Council for failing to enact 4 proposed zoning changes he wanted to the city’s zoning laws. Keller said this:
“When we made that pledge [of 5,000 city subsidized housing units], it was predicated on us getting four out of four things that we wanted.”
Two of Keller’s proposed zoning changes were enacted by the City Council. One allows casitas or detached units to be built on existing residential homes and the other eliminated building height limits on new construction.
The City Council rejected two of Keller’s proposed zoning changes. One would have allowed for duplexes to be built on existing homes. The second rejected measure reduced parking in mixed-use zone districts.
Connor Woods, the spokesperson for the Health, Housing and Homelessness department declined to give a number of affordable housing units the city added since 2022. However, he said since 2018 that 1,200 affordable housing units have been added and 200 new units were financed over the last year, calling it a record number. Woods said this:
“Despite major investments from the city, totaling more than $94.4 million dollars, funding to address the housing gap is significantly short of what is needed. … Moving forward we are dedicated to securing funding to continue the momentum to build the housing Albuquerque needs.”
Woods said that “about 15,500 new housing units are needed for people making less than 30% of the Area Median Income.”
ALBUQUERQUE’S HOMELESS NUMBERS
Mayor Keller has repeatedly said that the estimated number of homeless in Albuquerque is around 5,000 which is a gross exaggeration. The Point-In-Time (PIT) survey count is the annual federally funded process of identifying and counting individuals and families experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in Albuquerque. The Point-In-Time (PIT) count of the homeless released in July, 2024 reported the actual number is 2,394, which is less than half of the 5,000 Keller has claimed.
https://www.nmceh.org/_files/ugd/ad7ad8_6d9bf66e3a5d407eaad310cc44ecaf82.pdf
Keller said that while his Housing Forward Plan may not meet its 2025 goal of housing units, he is still looking to increase the supply of housing and meet the ambitious goal of 5,000 units eventually. Keller said this:
“I think really what I’m hopeful about, and what is the most important thing, is how much funding we can get this [legislative] session. … We’re doing a joint ask with the county for $100 million. That’s what we need, and the city can’t do these kinds of things. We can’t finance these by ourselves.”
The link to the quoted and relied upon news source is here:
CITY COUNCIL GETS UPDATE ON HOUSING GOALS
On September 19, 2024, the Albuquerque City Council was given an update on Keller’s Housing ABQ Forward Plan and the city’s efforts to bring 5,000 housing units to Albuquerque by 2025 with city support. City Councilors had repeatedly asked for an update from the City to no avail. The update report was on the city’s housing projects from the last 5 years as well as plans to increase unit production before 2025. The Keller Administration cited a 30,000-unit shortage of housing and a need for 15,500 affordable housing units. The topic of the unhoused was also brought up by city councilors.
Joseph Montoya, the city’s new Deputy Director of Housing, made an in-depth presentation that laid out what the city has been doing and how they plan to address the affordable housing shortage. Montoya said the goal was 30,000 units of new housing over the next 5 years. Out of that number, at least 5,000 units of affordable housing are needed. The 5,000 units of affordable housing by the city has from the get-go been the goal of the “Housing Forward ABQ Plan.”
STATISTICS PRESENTED
Over the past 5 years, the city has supported the construction of 2,224 housing units, 1,021 of which are subsidized for low to moderate income tenants. On average, the city has been producing between 200 and 250 affordable units per year, for about 450 units total. The city now has a goal of producing 1,000 affordable housing units per year. To reach that goal, the current housing output will have to at least quadrupled.
Joseph Montoya, the city’s Deputy Director of Housing, reported the following statistics to the city council:
- Nearly half of renters are rent-burdened.
- Rents have increased 20% since 2021.
- The median house price is $360,000.
- The city’s current waiting list for help with housing is about 800 people long.
- The city needs to produce 1,500 new units a year to keep up however only 200-250 units are being produced.
In addition to the initiatives already in place, Montoya outlined additional strategies the city would like to use. Those strategies include:
- Expediting planning approvals for affordable housing developments
- Opening request for proposals, known as RFPs, to “for-profit” as well as nonprofit developers
- Creating a loan fund for homeowners building affordable accessory dwelling units.
- Align the city’s RFP process with the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency and to create funding packages for developers.
Montoya is asking for a $20 million per year budget to focus on housing initiatives in the city.
REVISITING KELLER’S HOUSING FORWARD ABQ PLAN
Given Mayor Keller’s blaming the City Council and the New Mexico legislature for the failure of his Housing Forward Plan, an in-depth review of his plan and where it succeed and where it failed is in order.
It was on October 18, 2022 that Mayor Tim Keller announced his “Housing Forward ABQ Plan.” It is a “multifaceted initiative” where Mayor Keller set the goal of the City of Albuquerque being involved with adding 5,000 new subsidized housing units across the city by 2025 above and beyond what private industry normally creates each year. According to Keller, the city is in a major “housing crisis” and the city needs as many as 33,000 new housing units immediately.
During his October 18, 2022 news conference announcing his “Housing Forward ABQ Plan” Keller emphasized the importance of amending the city’s Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) to reach his goals. Keller said this:
“Right now our zoning code will never allow us to meet the housing demand in the city … If you want a place to advocate, if you want a place to change policy, if you want a place to argue, it’s all about the IDO [Integrated Development Ordinance] . … The proposed changes are intended to be transformative, which is fitting for the crisis facing our local government, thousands of families in our community, and our housing partners.”
To add the 5,000 new housing units across the city by 2025, Keller proposed that the City of Albuquerque fund and be involved with the construction of new low-income housing. The strategy included a zoning code “rebalance” to increase population density in established neighborhoods, including historical neighborhoods.
It included allowing “casitas” which under the zoning code are known as “accessory dwelling” units and duplex development on existing housing and other major changes relating to parking and height restrictions.
It included “motel conversions” and conversion of existing commercial office space into low income housing.
It also included enactment of ordinances to regulate the rental and apartment industry and promoting city sanctioned tent encampments for the unhoused.
Allowing both casita and duplex development, increasing density in established neighborhoods, reducing parking requirements in new developments as well as allowing increases in height restrictions were all changes strongly supported and lobbied for by Mayor Keller with support from the development community.
The local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP) lobbied heavily in favor of Keller’s “Housing Forward ABQ Plan” even going as far as having its President and Vice President testify before the City Council.
NAIOP is considered the most influential business organization in the city consisting of developers, investors and contractors with membership in excess 300 with many bidding on city contracts. NAIOP has its own politcal action committee and the organization endorsees candidates for Mayor and City Council while the membership donates to candidates. NAIOP also sponsors bus tours by City Councilors in all 9 City Council Districts to help identify development.
SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF KELLER’S HOUSING FOREWARD ABQ PLAN
The Keller Administration was able to narrowly secure some victories on his “Housing Forward ABQ Plan.”
Measures that PASSED included allowing two “Safe Outdoor Spaces” in all 9 City Council Districts, casita construction in established residential areas of the city to increase density and reducing restrictions on motel conversion projects to allow for easier development. Keller unilaterally without city council input instituted a plan to purchase existing motels to convert them into low income housing and increase the city’s ownership and inventory of low income housing.
Measures that FAILED included allowing duplex development on existing housing to increase density, reducing parking requirements for multifamily developments and increasing building heights for some apartment buildings.
Two new proposed city council ordinances that FAILED to be enacted included an ordinance requiring the disclosure and the capping of fees on apartments and rental properties and to cap the number of short-term rentals in the city.
AMENDING CITY ZONING LAWS: CASITA’S IN, DUPLEX DEVELOPMENT OUT
Keller wanted to allow different forms of multi-unit housing development on existing residential neighborhoods and properties throughout the city. City officials said that 68% of the city’s existing housing is single-family detached homes with 120,000 existing residential lots with already built residences on them.
As part of his Housing Forward ABQ Plan, Keller pushed for enactment of two major amendments to the city’s Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) which is the city’s zoning laws.
One amendment allowed one 750 foot “casita” or one “accessory dwelling” unit on all built out lots which could double density to 240,000 housing units city wide.
The second amendment would have allowed “duplex development” on existing residents where 750 square foot additions for separate housing would be allowed on existing residences which with casitas would have tripled density to 360,000.
Mayor Keller called the legislation “transformative” updates to Albuquerque’s Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) to carry out his “Housing Forward ABQ”.
The amendments contained in the legislation was to allow the construction of 750 square foot casitas and 750 square foot duplex additions on every single existing R-1 residential lot that already has single family house built on it in order to increase density.
The amendments as originally proposed would allow one “casita” and one “duplex addition” with a kitchen and separate entrance to an existing structure on all built out lots. City officials said that 68% of the city’s existing housing is single-family detached homes with 120,000 existing residential lots with already built residences.
The zoning code amendments would have made both casitas and duplex additions “permissive uses”. Historically, they have always been “conditional uses”. A “conditional use” requires an application process with the city Planning Department, notice to surrounding property owners and affected neighborhood associations and provides for appeal rights.
A “permissive use” gives the Planning Department exclusive authority to issue permits for construction without notices and hearings and with no appeal process to surrounding property owners. Objecting property owners and neighborhood associations to the permissive casita and duplex uses would be relegated to filing lawsuits to enforce covenants and restrictions.
The Albuquerque City Council voted 5-4 to approve the zoning code changes with amendments made to the Integrated Development Ordinance. The version of the bill that ultimately passed on a 5-4 vote was amended extensively.
The city council voted to allow casita construction as a “permissive use” in all single-family R–1 zone and reduce parking requirements for some multifamily properties and changing building height limitations. This was a major change supported by the development community.
The city council voted to strike the amendment and to not allow duplexes to be permissively zoned in R–1 zone areas, which make up about two-thirds of the city.
LOWERING THE BAR
On July 6, Mayor Tim Keller signed into law the zoning amendments that embody his “Housing Forward ABQ Plan”. It allows casita construction on 68% of all built out residential lots in the city. Casita construction is now a “permissive use” on all single-family R–1 zones giving the Planning Department exclusive authority to approve casitas over objections of adjoining property owners.
Mayor Keller announced his administration’s goal was to review and approve 1,000 new casitas all over the city by 2025. Keller announced the Planning Department would “lower the bar” for property owners to build casitas and provide pre-approved casita designs. The city also wants to provide loans for building costs to homeowners that agree to rent their casita to those who use Section 8 housing vouchers. However, the Keller Administration has yet to announce how many casitas have in fact been approved and sources say the number is less than 50.
The most glaring fallacy in the zoning changes allowing for increased casita and duplex development was Mayor Keller’s assumption that there was a widespread market and demand by private property owners for casita’s and duplexes when in fact such developments are extremely expensive and few private property and home owners have the financial resources. It is estimated the average cost to build a 750 square foot casita or for that matter a 750 square foot duplex addition is $150,000 to $175,000. It is the real estate development community that can afford casita and duplex development by purchasing existing private residents and converting them into multi family residences for investments and rentals.
MOTEL CONVERSIONS
Mayor Keller’s “Housing Forward ABQ” places great emphasis on “motel conversions”. Motel conversions is where the city acquires existing motels and converts them into housing. The city officials proclaims motels conversions are a simpler, lower-cost alternative to ground-up construction. City officials estimate the cost is $100,000 per unit to fix up or remodel existing motels for permanent housing.
A zoning change enacted by the city council in early 2022 year eased the process for city-funded motel conversions by allowing microwaves or hot plates to serve as a substitute for the standard requirement that every kitchen have a cooking stove or oven. The existing layout of the motels makes it cost-prohibitive to renovate them into living units with full sized kitchens.
An Integrated Development Ordinance amendment provides an exemption for affordable housing projects funded by the city, allowing kitchens to be small, without full-sized ovens and refrigerators. It will require city social services to regularly assist residents. The homeless or the near homeless would be offered the housing.
Keller’s Housing Forward plan called for hotel or motel conversions to house 1,000 people by 2025. However, the city’s goal of 1,000 has fallen seriously short with only two motels purchased for conversion represting approximately 200 units of housing.
On February 11, 2023, the City of Albuquerque executed a purchase agreement for the purchase of the Sure Stay Hotel located at 10330 Hotel NE for $5.7 million to convert the 104-room hotel into 100 efficiency units. The $5.7 million purchase price for the 104-unit complex translates into $53,807.69 per unit ($5.7 Million ÷ 104 = $53,807.69 per unit). The renovations and remodeling of the Sure Stay Motel have already been completed.
The city has also acquired the old San Mateo Inn near I-40. For decades, the old motel was formerly the La Quinta The city purchased the building for nearly $5 million earlier this year, with plans to convert it into the city’s first Youth Homeless Facility. Renovations and remodeling are now underway by the city. A recent report found a significant group of 15- to 25-year-olds experiencing homelessness never utilize the city’s existing resources.
COMMERCIAL OFFICE SPACE CONVERSIONS
According to Keller’s original Housing Forward plan, the city wanted to convert commercial office space into to residential use. The Keller administration proposed $5 million to offset developer costs with the aim of transitioning 10 commercial properties and creating 1,000 new housing units.
The Keller Administration early on announced that the conversion office space plan was too heavy of a lift for the city and the city has yet to acquire a single commercial office building to be converted into residential use.
Despite the Keller Administrations failure to acquire commercial office space for conversion into residential use, the private sector has taken up the challenge with city assistance on tax abatement.
On September 4, 2024, the Albuquerque City Council unanimously approved tax abatements for major housing development projects in the city. One of the projects is exclusively an affordable housing project. The tax abatements will be a “freeze” for seven years on developers’ tax payments at the level being paid before any development took place on the property.
With the tax abatements in place, the developers will be able to move forward and secure building permits and financing. According to a city staff report, the tax abatement will save developers hundreds of thousands of dollars of at least $744,332 in property taxes. The tax abatements are meant to incentivize the development projects.
One of the projects is the 10-story Two-Park Central Tower near the corner of San Mateo and Central. For decades the building was commercial office space. It has been vacant for a number of years, and it will now be converted into housing. Developer Route 66 Multifamily plans to turn the vacant office building into 101 apartments. Some of the apartments will be market value, and some might become affordable housing.
Another housing development projects is the old Bank of the West Tower located at Central and San Mateo. It is a 17 story a high-rise office building completed in 1963 and when it was built it was the tallest building in the city. It is now the fifth tallest building in the state, and the tallest outside of Downtown Albuquerque. Developer Route 66 plans to turn the commercial building into apartments.
The third and only project dedicated to affordable housing will be built at the corner of Central and Alcazar SE. The 70-unit Somos affordable housing complex is being developed by Sol Housing. The nonprofit plans to set aside 84% of the units for income-restricted affordable housing. The tax abatement on this project will save the developer an estimated $514,376. The city already owns the land that the Somos project is being built on and will transfer ownership to Sol Housing after the abatement period ends.
Sunlight Properties and Garfield Townhomes also received council approval for a tax abatement for a townhome project in the University Heights neighborhood. The developers plan to build 16 townhomes on a vacant lot on Garfield. The tax abatement should save the developer $151,209.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_the_West_Tower_(Albuquerque)#References
“SAFE OUTDOOR SPACES”
Although Safe Outdoor Spaces for the unhoused was not announced as part of Mayor Keller’s original “Housing Forward ABQ Plan”, they nevertheless required major changes to the Integrated Development Ordinance. They “dove tail” into Keller’s overall approach to what he labeled an “all above approach” to address the city’s housing shortage and to deal with the unhoused.
Safe Outdoor Spaces became one of the most divisive issues dealt with by the City Council in some time. It not only divided the city council but also resulted in major opposition by neighborhood associations and homeowners.
Opposition to Safe Outdoor Spaces was shamelessly dismissed as “not in my backyard.” Safe Outdoor Space city sanctioned homeless encampments are not just an issue of “not in my back yard,” but one of legitimate anger and mistrust by the public against city elected officials and department employees who have mishandled the city’s homeless crisis and who are determined to allow them despite strong public opposition.
It was April 1, 2022, in his proposed 2022-2023 budget, that Mayor Tim Keller, advocated and supported an amendment to the Integrated Development Ordinance that allows for the land use known as “Safe Outdoor Spaces” to deal with the homeless crisis.
“Safe outdoor spaces” will permit 2 homeless encampments in all 9 city council districts with 40 designated spaces for tents, they will allow upwards of 50 people, require hand washing stations, toilets and showers, require a management plan, 6 foot fencing and social services offered. Although the Integrated Development Ordinance amendment sets a limit of two in each of the city’s 9 council districts, the cap would not apply to those hosted by religious institutions.
On June 6, 2022 despite significant public outcry against Safe Outdoor Spaces the Albuquerque City Council enacted the legislation and passed it on a 5 to 4. On December 5, 2022 the City Council voted on a 5 to 4 vote to remove all references to Safe Outdoor Spaces within Albuquerque’s zoning code thereby outlawing the land use. Mayor Tim Keller vetoed the legislation. It was the councils third attempt to reverse its own decision in June to allow Safe Outdoor Spaces with one vote defunding them. On January 4, 2023 the city council attempted to “override” Keller’s veto, but failed to secure the necessary 6 votes.
Initially, there were 6 applications for Safe Outdoor Spaces, but only 3 were approved with one of those approved abandoned because the city sold the property to where it was to be located.
Safe Outdoor Space tent encampments will destroy neighborhoods and make the city a magnet for the homeless. The general public has legitimate concerns that Safe Outdoor Space homeless tent encampments will become crime-infested nuisances, such was the case with Coronado Park. The homeless crisis will not be solved by the city but must be managed with permanent housing assistance and service programs, not nuisance tent encampments.
CITY COUNCIL REJECTS AGGRESSIVE ORDINACES TO REGULATE RESIDENTIAL RENTAL INDUSTRY
Keller’s “Housing Forward ABQ Plan” attempted to address the shortage of affordable housing with two very aggressive new ordinances. Both the ordinances failed to get council approval. Those two proposed new ordinances were:
The “Residential Tenant Protection Ordinance” was to target what was declared “deceptive” practices and “unreasonable” fees charged by residential rental proper owners and landlords. The ordinance was viewed as a form of, or an attempt at, rent control. The bill would have required landlords to post a list of application fees, minimum income and credit score requirements, plus background check results that could disqualify applicants. Supporters described the bill as “common sense” protections for tenants. They argued the regulations would ease the burden on lower-income renters who currently struggle to pay multiple application fees and who need to know and plan for about all the fees they will have to pay while in a rental agreement. Opponents of the bill, including the rental industry representatives, said it was “meddlesome”, “cumbersome”, “unnecessary” and interfered with property rights and contract rights and was an attempt at rent control . It was argued passage would likely result in the raising of rents to account for the new regulations.
The “Residential Rental Permit Ordinance” would have limited and placed caps on short term rentals. The Keller Administration argued that there is a need to protect existing housing stock to make it available to all permanent residents and future residents so that they will always have access to a safe, stable home. The goal of the ordinance was to cap the number of short-term rentals like Airbnb and VRBO in an attempt to stop housing units from being removed from the overall housing market reducing the availability of homes for sale. The initiative was intended to boost housing stock in Albuquerque. Under the original legislation, the permit cap would have been set at 1,800. The cap was raised from 1,200 in the original legislation to accommodate all current rentals in the city.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Mayor Tim Keller blaming the Albuquerque City Council and the New Mexico Legislature for the failure of his Housing Forward Plan to build 5,000 new subsidized housing units and the City falling short by 3,000 units amounts to nothing more than a spoiled child not getting what he wanted. It reflects a Mayor who believes he is the only one who has the solution to the city’s housing shortages and reflects that he fully does not understand the cause and effect of supply and demand economics.
The housing shortage is related to economics, the development community’s inability to keep up with supply and demand and the public’s inability to purchase housing or qualify for housing mortgage loans. The shortage of rental properties has resulted in dramatic increases in rents. Simply put, Keller used a short-term housing “crunch” to declare it a “housing crisis” in order to shove his “HOUSING FORWARD ABQ PLAN” down the throats of the city residents and property owners. Keller used the housing crunch to declare a housing crisis to advocate major zoning changes that will increase density and destroy neighborhoods relying on neighborhoods, investors and developers to increase density by laxing zoning restriction for developers.
Keller’s “HOUSING FORWARD ABQ PLAN” empowers the Planning Department to unilaterally issue “permissive uses” for “casitas” on existing structures. The Planning Department is now allowed to exclude the general public from the permissible use application and deny adjacent property owners the right to object and appeal casitas. It essentially will require property owners to sue adjoining property owners to enforce covenants and restrictions.
“HOUSING FORWARD ABQ” is an aggressive approach to allow the city Family and Community Services department to become alarmingly involved with acquisition of private property to promote Keller’s political agenda to supplement the housing market with low income housing when the city should be concentrating on providing basic essential services.
Mayor Keller emphasized the homeless crisis as a rues to promote the “HOUSING FORWARD ABQ” when the plan has nothing to do with housing the homeless and everything to do with increasing housing density in established and historical neighborhood to their determent.
KELLER’S HOUSING FORWARD PLAN CATERS TO DEVLOPERS
For decades, investors, developers and construction contractors have objected to sector development plans proclaiming they were too burdensome and stifled development. They have wanted a loosening of the zoning laws to allow for casitas and duplexes and reducing parking requirements in new developments as well as allowing increases in height restrictions. The Integrated Development Ordinance repealed upwards of 60 sector development plans.
What really happened with Mayor Tim Keller’s “transformative changes” to the Integrated Development Ordinance and his “Housing Forward ABQ” plan is Keller catered to the development community as he pretended to be an expert in housing development and zoning matters. Keller relied on his exaggeration of the city’s housing crisis and homeless crisis to seek further changes to the city’s zoning code to help the development community and using city funding to do it.
Mayor Tim Keller’s Housing Foreword ABQ Plan is a city policy abomination that favors developers and the city’s construction industry over neighborhoods. At all 5 public meetings on Keller’s Housing Foreword ABQ Plan revealed strong public hostility and mistrust and what emerged was city residents telling Keller he was going way too far. The Albuquerque City Council essentially did the same by voting down many of the initiatives it contained, especially saying no to duplex development and the “Residential Tenant Protection Ordinance” and the“Residential Rental Permit Ordinance”
Keller boldly proclaimed his Housing Forward Plan was “transformational”. The only thing transformational about it is the destruction of historic neighborhoods and the “gentrification” of the city where entire communities are displaced for housing development.
MEASURED APPROACH NEEDS TO BE TAKEN
The blunt reality is that it is not at all realistic for the City nor the State to try and attempt to solve the housing crisis on their own with nothing but government financing, construction and ownership. Government’s responsibility is to provide essential services, such as police protection, fire protection and utilities and not to directly compete with the housing industry. It’s the market forces that must be relied upon to get the job done when it comes to affordable housing.
The approach that the City should take should be in the form of tax deferrals, subsidies and low interest loans to act as incentives to construct low income housing. This is a reasonable, responsible and measured approach to help solve the current housing crisis in the city. The City can help the private sector to build more affordable housing by eliminating some zoning restrictions that unnecessarily drive-up housing costs so long as there is a preservation and respect for adjoining property owners’ rights and remedies. One area of reform to help the housing industry would be for the city to go to the legislature and ask it to reduce the states gross receipts tax on construction materials in order to bring down construction costs.