santa fe moving to address affordable housing challenge

Plans are currently underway to build at least eight hundred new multifamily units in the city, on top of the nearly 1,200 units that are already under construction.

Speaking before the Santa Fe Home Builders Association, Alexandra Ladd said that the push for new homes, given the expense of each project and challenging zoning issues, is being done on an incremental basis.

But Ladd, the director of the City of Santa Fe’s Office of Affordable Housing, said the city has also been working with developers, allowing them to either set aside some 15 percent of any project for affordable housing, or pay fees to be used for affordable housing construction.

Another option that has been proposed comes with a developer building all of the units in a given project for low-price market rates.

All three of those options will be reviewed as part of a zoning proposal by members of the Santa Fe City council in early December.

The Santa Fe Home Builders Association in recent years has been particularly visible on the question of providing more affordable housing in the city.

The group is also a part of the Santa Fe Housing Action Coalition, which is dedicated to building more affordable housing throughout Santa Fe.

The average price of a home in Santa Fe, according to the real estate site Zillow, currently stands at just under $381,000, compared to $200,000 nationally.

By Garry Boulard

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