New Mexico Constitutional Amendment 4, or the
Local Government Affordable Housing Act, was on the
November 7, 2006 ballot in
New Mexico as an
legislatively-referred constitutional amendment, where it was
approved.
[1]
Election results
| Amendment 4 |
|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage |
 a Yes | 266,861 | 55.6% |
| No | 163,136 | 44.4% |
Impact
Under the Act, a state, a county, a municipality or the authority may:
- donate, provide or pay all, or a portion, of the costs of land for the construction on the land of affordable housing;
- donate, provide or pay all or a portion of the costs of conversion or renovation of existing buildings into affordable housing;
- provide or pay the costs of financing or infrastructure necessary to support affordable housing projects; or
- provide or pay all or a portion of the costs of acquisition, development, construction, financing, operating or owning affordable housing.
- The state can appropriate funds for affordable housing through enactment of specific laws authorizing “housing assistance grants.” The laws should direct the Department of Finance and Administration to execute a Joint Powers Agreement with MFA to administer the appropriation(s) and certify applicants’ eligibility for the appropriation(s).
- Counties and municipalities may provide funding (“housing assistance grants”) through enactment of an ordinance for each project or program. Housing assistance grants can be made either through a project-specific RFP or through a program application process.
Ordinances, RFPs, program guidelines, and applications must be submitted to MFA to review for compliance with the Act.
- Appropriations and housing assistance grants may be leveraged with other funding sources.
- School districts and post-secondary educational institutions may transfer land to counties and municipalities to be further granted as part or all of an affordable housing grant. The transfer must be made through a contractual agreement, and a negotiated number of housing units must be reserved for employees of the educational entity.
- Applicants may be individuals, governmental housing agencies, regional housing authorities, tribal housing agencies, for-profit organizations, or non-profit organizations that meet eligibility criteria specified in the Act, as well as any additional criteria set by the local government and/or the MFA. [2]
See also
External links
References
