After getting what its CEO considered a notable amount of capital outlay, local affordable housing nonprofit Homewise still needs about $5 million to complete its Tierra Contenta affordable housing project, which started in the 1990s.
As this year’s legislative session closed, Homewise received $8.975 million in capital outlay funds to complete the third phase of the Tierra Contenta project, which the City of Santa Fe approved in late 2021. Homewise CEO Mike Loftin says this funding will go a long way to completing this phase.
“The governor put money into it, significant money—she was terrific. The entire delegation of both state representatives and state senators from Santa Fe put money into it,” Loftin tells SFR. “People really care about Tierra Contenta. They really want it to happen. The support across our delegation and the roundhouse was terrific. We're very happy, not just because the money helps get the infrastructure done, but just how solid the support is.”
Loftin also notes that since capital outlay funding is allocated from a “limited pot” divided among state representatives, senators and the Office of the Governor, “the fact that we got something from everyone is a really big deal.”
According to an emailed statement from the Office of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the governor prioritized capital outlay funding for Tierra Contenta because “affordable housing in Santa Fe cannot wait.”
Lujan Grisham says her decision to invest in this project will “turn plans into homes where New Mexicans need them most,” and the development represents her commitment to “real solutions for Santa Fe's housing challenges.”
However, the funding still falls short of the $14 million in funding they requested from capital outlay, leaving Homewise to look to other sources for the $5 million needed to begin Phase 3, which is currently planned to begin in July this year.
This phase of development for Tierra Contenta—which has been in the works since the early 1990s—is set to provide the city with up to 1,500 new units of housing, with 40% of the units (about 600) designated to meet the city’s affordable housing guidelines.
The majority of the project phase, which totals $28 million and will be paid partially through private debt (including a $10 million loan from the Anchorum Health Foundation), will be used to fund trunk infrastructure for the planned housing site on Santa Fe’s Southside. The trunk infrastructure would entail extending and connecting Paseo del Sol to Cerrillos Road and the Walmart located on Herrera Drive. The project also includes installing water lines and other utilities.
“The total infrastructure costs for the spot—the spine infrastructure, which is the main infrastructure coming through the whole project—it doesn't just go through Tierra Contenta, it goes through other properties…it's a major arterial connector that the city has planned for 20 years and just never got around to building. We can't make this project work without that connector happening.”
Loftin says Homewise is still looking at other sources of funding for the Tierra Contenta project and has not settled on anything specific yet, noting, “this is typical, that you always have to piece this stuff together.”
He adds that Homewise would “like to see the City of Santa Fe step up and contribute,” noting interest in the city’s capital improvement impact fee fund. Money from this fund comes from a one-time charge imposed on new developments to finance public infrastructure needed to support that development.
“A new development causes a need for new roads and parks, and stuff like that,” Loftin explains. “That's one of the programs—everyone pays into this fund so that the city has the ability to fund infrastructure projects…so, that would be a source. There's other sources that might be out there.”
City of Santa Fe Communications Director Regina Ruiz tells SFR that because Homewise has not yet officially proposed any funding requests, the city cannot comment on the feasibility of funding anything additional to the project, although Mayor Alan Webber voiced support for the project as a whole.
“I’m fully committed to Tierra Contenta Phase 3—we need the housing,” Webber tells SFR in an emailed statement. “So far, the City has already invested $800,000 toward the major access road and utilities. We’ll keep working with Homewise to find the necessary funding to build the all-important road and open up the land for housing development.”
While Loftin clarifies there is nothing specific Homewise has zeroed in on yet, he notes the nonprofit is also looking into potential federal sources of money in addition to looking at the city for support.
“It's a heavy lift. Some of that, Homewise will borrow money to build it. We can't afford all of it,” Loftin says. “Then, as we sell land to homebuilders and other developers who build something different, that will pay off that debt. So, it's a true public-private partnership.”
Homewise has already met with several homebuilders and developers in the area that Loftin says have shown interest in potentially buying tracts of land after the trunk infrastructure is complete, which include the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association, the Santa Fe Habitat for Humanity, the Santa Fe Community Housing Trust and even some affordable rental developers.
“People are coming together,” Loftin says. “We still have work to do. We’ve got to put more money together, but we're doing that. We have to get some additional approvals from the city—they’ve got to approve the right-of-way designation and all that kind of stuff. I would like to speed that up. But the money part is the big part. And this was a major achievement in this last legislative session.”
