Curious About Affordability Housing Plans for Otero County? Join a Meeting, Listen and Learn

Housing Affordability is a significant issue for the Otero County area and more specifically Alamogordo. The numbers of homeless visible in the inner city is increasing and middle income and lower income families are feeling pressure on housing. To learn what dialogue is happening we are passing along the notes from a recent 100% Otero Housing Meeting to spark interest and hopefully expand the conversation. Join a future meeting! The public and stakeholders are encouraged to participate. 

100% Otero Housing Committee notes

June 11 ~ 3pm in person at TCC, 1900 10th St and on zoom

Co-chairs: Nadia Sikes and Maureen Schmittle

Facilitated by Nadia Sikes. Notes by Maureen and by Lisa Yehle.

Welcome & introductions. Present: Nadia Sikes, Maureen Schmittle, Stephanie Hernandez, Courtney McCary-Squyres, MaryAnn Mayton, Lisa Yehle, Sharon McDonald, Peg Crim, Katie Silva, Amber Mayhall, Tarah Melendez, Jen Gruger, Jeanette Borunda, Melissa Carter, Athena Huckaby, Amy Barela, Karo Ademila, Angie Schneider, Kevin Bailey, Steph Guerra, Blanca Aguilar, Brandy Qualls, Tom Krajci, Cecelia Alexander, Yajaira Jimenez, Denise Narvaez.

All participants introduced themselves.

Welcome by Lisa Yehle, co-Founder of 100% Otero. Announced that Ana Age 8 Book Club begins (reprise) June 12.

Overview on the City of Alamogordo (COA) Affordable Housing Plan and sharing City perspective on needs, by Stephanie Hernandez, Assistant City Manager included:

Ordinance 1296 passed in 2007, adopting an Affordable Housing Plan - still in effect, and COA will be updating. County Attorney is planning to develop a County-wide Housing Plan and present to County Commission. Stephanie plans to be part of drafting team. 

In 2022, COA passed management of the Housing Authority units over to the Eastern Regional Housing Authority, based in Roswell for oversight. Ownership will officially transfer this summer.

COA calls this current situation a Housing Insufficiency, and does not refer to the status in Alamogordo as a crisis. Haven’t had much growth since the last census: about 1000. 

COA is defining four population groups when considering housing needs: 

Local citizenry – which includes sub-groups of low, middle, and high income 

HAFB personnel 

Temporarily -in-town professionals

People who are homeless

Mortgage Finance Authority (MFA) data shows area median income (AMI) is approximately $69,000.

HUD definition of low income is 80% or less of AMI; moderate income is81-150% of AMI (with adjustment/ variations based on family size.)

With this data, an “affordable” home price for the low-to-moderate income range (LMI) is $79,000 - $150,000.

City Staff is preparing to present to the Commission on community needs. There is a need for housing for homeless, temporary housing (rentals), and housing for HAFB personnel – this last item tends to get a lot of attention, along with housing construction in the private sector

COA can help with zoning, but not with bringing in private sector projects. COA can only focus on planning and zoning. Cannot speak for HAFB and if they have development plans.

COA sees the need for rentals and is focused on local citizenry

COA will help by seeing what they can offer through the Affordable Housing Plan, such as land. COA is considering a pilot project of 2 – 4 lots for rehabilitation and low income sale or rental. 

The following two MFA programs were discussed at the meeting. There are others available. https://housingnm.org/o 

Restoring Our Communities (ROC) https://housingnm.org/resources/restoring-our-communities-program restores old dilapidated housing, goes through RFP.

COA could help - currently 20 potential sites, but availability depends on legal background of the site, then being able to get a builder to agree to do the work and sell for the LMI range – for 25 years.o Housing Innovation Fund for a project which doesn’t fit any other category (catch-all) up to $500K. https://housingnm.org/rfps/rfps-rfqs/housing-innovation-notice-of-funding-availability-nofa

Another potential source mentioned is the “per-door fund” which has been used in Otero County, and worked well.

Q: Seeing a need for a Housing-specific staff person at the City? A: That is up to the Commission. COA cannot take on housing wholly. The City Manager states that our priorities for city management are: sewer, water, streets, fire, police. •

Q: What can 100% Otero do to help? Have patience with us, looking at Housing is new. This is not the City’s purview. Suggested partnering with/ supporting efforts of Habitat for Humanity.

Thank you, Stephanie, for your time in presenting to the Housing Team!

Nadia is now a Commissioner on the Eastern Regional Housing Authority (ERHA) Board. Nadia gave a quick overview that there are 221 HUD units at the Housing Authority in Alamogordo, and that we may have heard there are “offline” units. Nadia stated this is not correct, all are able to be rented. There is a new manager and there is maintenance on-site.

New manager is tasked with going through the waitlist. There are also HUD-specific apartments in Cloudcroft and Tularosa. Discussion about how many more units are going to become available – someone will clarify with Chris Herbert, Director of the ERHA.

Situation discussions:

• Nadia shared photos of homeless camps where people are staying in camper vans or camper shells, with no utilities and are being charged rent. 

Several entities have been helping to support a pregnant couple who are homeless and have been staying at a hotel.

Showers: library gave out 40 free shower vouchers for use at the Family Recreation Center, however it was reported that only 4 were redeemed. Runners’ Refuge allows showers for free and by appointment.

Gas Station just north of Lowes sells use of showers for $12.

Additional comments included:

We need less talk, more action regarding homeless who need IDs, showers, lockers, bunk houses.

With Many Hands maybe able to provide help with mobile shower and gray water• There are RV dump sites at fairgrounds and Chamber of Commerce

Offer courtesy items at that time• Amy Barela has a 4-page draft of Otero County’s affordable housing plan that she will share. It discusses who provides what; 

Stephanie Hernandez repeated the hope that city & county coordinate efforts

ERHA discussed creating a sample plan for counties to modify; Nadia said it wasn't discussed at most recent meeting

there's a lot of “NIMBY” so need buy-in from the community; presentations to service clubs, etc. (Not in My Backyard)

Stephanie & Commissioner Barela both shared that acommon reaction locally is that “if we provide services to homeless, more homeless will want to come here”

Talk up the selling points of addressing homelessness, and share who the homeless really are – such as the profiles at our housing symposium. See if ADN interested in weekly profile feature stories?

Suggested to have two subcommittees: one for services to homeless and one for destigmatizing, changing the public image• Many homeless individuals admit having mental health issues and they need case managers• People who are homeless need access to wifi, such as at the library.

Next meeting will be July 9 at 3pm at TCC, with a hybrid option - join by zoom.

To learn more visit https://www.100nm.org/otero/

More News from Alamogordo

• June is PTSD Month, Blue Sky Counseling Building New Offices and Expanding Services Blue Sky Counseling
• Ruidoso Fire Containment at 64% and 55%, Beware of Scammers Fire containment continues