Newly formed New Mexico ‘abundance’ housing coalition lays out legislative priorities 

A new housing coalition including homebuilders, lawmakers, nonprofit leaders and state agency officials on Wednesday previewed an agenda for January’s legislative session that includes streamlined zoning, expanded funding options, reduced taxation and increased building in rural areas.  

Housing Abundance! Coalition spokesperson Miles David Conway, who is also CEO of the New Mexico Home Builders Association, told Source NM on Wednesday that the group’s goal is to arrive at New Mexico’s legislative sessions with consensus on housing solutions. 

Different interest groups often arrive at legislative sessions on the first day only to find out they have “competing or contradictory” legislation or a repeat of past bills. 

“I think that is very frustrating for everybody,” he said.

New Mexico is currently experiencing a housing shortage, recently estimated at roughly 58,000 units, as well as sharp increases in home prices and rent. Conway said his group aims to spur as much production as possible, with the help of tax code changes and state funding to both developers and homebuyers. 

The group’s four main “pillars” released Wednesday include offering incentives to local governments to modernize their zoning and permitting processes; expanding the use of state-funded mortgage rate buydowns and down payment assistance; eliminating gross receipts tax on market-rate and affordable housing construction; and building more housing infrastructure in rural areas.

Nonprofit Homewise, earlier this month released a report that identified obstructive local zoning ordinances and permitting processes as the main barriers to reducing the state’s housing shortage

The New Mexico Legislature and state agencies have tackled related measures in recent sessions, including a bill that eliminated sales tax on labor or supplies for affordable housing developers. Housing New Mexico, the state’s mortgage finance authority, also launched a pilot program earlier this summer that uses state funds to reduce low-income homebuyers’ mortgage rates. 

The term “abundance” used in the group’s name, Conway said, references a book New York Times columnist Ezra Klein co-authored that argues administrative burdens like zoning codes and parking requirements artificially limit the housing market and constrain the housing supply. In New Mexico, it also refers to the many different types of housing, both in rural urban areas, that the group aims to help build, Conway said. 

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“When we looked at the abundance of housing opportunities that we wanted to stimulate, that word arrived,” he said. 

The coalition lists multiple state lawmakers as helping shape the group’s platform, including Albuquerque Democrats state Sens. Heather Berghmans and Moe Maestas, House Speaker Rep. Javier Martínez and Rep. Cristina Parajon, as well as Rep. Rebecca Dow (R-Elephant Butte). 

State agencies like the Department of Workforce Solutions, which oversees the new Office of Housing, and the Economic Development Department are also listed as founding members.