The following elements, among others, shall be used to develop a priority setting and project ranking system for development under this article.
(A) Neighborhood conditions. Workforce housing should be designed, located and integrated into the community so as to serve to stabilize that neighborhood, with the long term goal of creating "stable" mixed-income neighborhoods, not "disinvesting" or "gentrifying" ones. Thus, in a disinvesting neighborhood, the goal is to increase housing and other investment, enhance the neighborhood image, preserve a mixed-income environment by upgrading the existing housing inventory, encourage higher income families and serve as a catalyst for additional investment. In a neighborhood with increasing housing prices the goal is to preserve a mixed income environment and avoid the dislocation of low income residents by creating a reserve of permanent affordable rental workforce housing protected from price increases and danger of converting to market rate housing, allowing renters to own their housing, and otherwise financially insulating low income residents from financial burdens of gentrification while accruing its benefits.
(B) Design and Location Criteria. Access to public transportation; jobs and housing balance; pedestrian access to shopping, schools and recreation; retail in close proximity to residential; energy efficient construction; water conservation; Universal Design Standards, quality design and construction all enhance the value of workforce housing and, as required, the standards of the applicable zone in the Integrated Development Ordinance.
(C) Preservation. Mechanisms are available for preserving existing and new workforce housing. Neighborhoods with rising land values will most benefit from a balance of tools that work toward permanently affordable rental housing, in addition to a shorter term mechanism that will achieve the goals of attracting investment into neighborhoods that are experiencing declining land values. All rental housing shall be permanently affordable. Trust funds used for homeownership assistance shall be subject to recapture or resale provisions. No funds from sources other than the biannual General Obligation Bond Capital Improvement Program or interest earnings of such shall be considered as part of the trust fund nor shall such funds from other sources be subject to the requirement of permanent affordability. Rental projects funded in part from the trust fund and in part from other sources shall be subject to the requirement of permanent affordability.
Trust funds used for homeownership assistance shall be subject to recapture or resale provisions. Homebuyer assistance is a direct subsidy to the homebuyer and includes funds for down payment, closing costs, rehabilitation costs or other financial assistance provided directly to the homebuyer. The maximum homeownership assistance for any individual homebuyer will be $20,000. This maximum amount may be adjusted annually by the Department of Family and Community Services by a maximum of 5%. The homeownership assistance must be repaid if it is provided directly to the homebuyer. Upon resale the seller may sell to any willing buyer at any price. If the new buyer of the property has an income at or below 80% AMI, the homeownership assistance may be assumed by the new buyer. The homeownership assistance will be secured by a promissory note and mortgage. The terms of the promissory note will be at zero percent interest with the repayment of the principal balance due upon the resale, refinance or failure to occupy the property. Once the trust funds are repaid to the city the property is no longer subject to any trust fund restrictions. The funds returned to the city shall be deposited in the Trust Fund account and shall be used for future Trust Fund eligible activities.
Rental properties shall enter into a monitoring agreement with the city or other entity as approved by the city to provide an annual audit of compliance with affordability requirements and the Affordable Housing Act, NMSA 1978, § 6-27-1 et seq. Audits will take into account the requirements of all funding sources and those requirements may conflict. Federal requirements preempt these ordinances. For purposes of this article, income eligible families will not be evicted from their rental dwelling unit if over time their income increases above the eligible level. However, provisions should be made to relocate the family within a mixed income workforce housing project to a market rate dwelling or adjust their rents appropriately if their income warrants such a change.
(D) Link to Growth Management Plan. In developing and adopting the Affordable Housing Plan, there should be consistency with and support for the city’s growth management plan as defined by the Planned Growth Strategy and Comprehensive Plan. This requirement for consistency and support is not intended to mandate the development of workforce housing, specific distribution or locations for workforce housing but may be a factor in such decisions.
(Ord. 30-2006; Am. Ord. 2015-001; Am. Ord. 2019-016)