• The study is in its beginning phases and the next steps include seeking public input and hosting public meetings.
  • Rio Rancho residents, business owners, and anyone who works in Rio Rancho can offer input by completing an online survey on the city website at www.rrnm.gov/ahs.
  • The survey is open from June 23, 2022 to July 25, 2022.

 

RIO RANCHO —The City of Rio Rancho is planning to do an Affordable Housing Study.

The study will help the city develop a roadmap “that guides actions to improve the availability, affordability and quality of housing within the city,” according to a press release on July 23.

“If Rio Rancho is to transition from, historically, a bedroom community with more and more job opportunities of all types, then a diversity of housing options and price points must and should be available,” said Mayor Gregg Hull in a statement. “I believe a comprehensive study will verify our need and provide valuable information for the Governing Body and Planning and Zoning Board to take into consideration and use when making land use decisions.”

The study is in its beginning phases and the next steps include seeking public input and hosting public meetings.

Rio Rancho residents, business owners, and anyone who works in Rio Rancho can offer input by completing an online survey on the city website at www.rrnm.gov/ahs.

The survey is open from June 23, 2022 to July 25, 2022.

Printed copies are available at the Meadowlark Senior Center, the Broadmoor Senior Center, the Loma Colorado Main Library and Esther Bone Memorial Library.

The study is part of Mayor Hull’s FY 2022 budget response in which $75,000 was recommended to be allocated for an Affordable Housing Study.

The study was approved by the Governing Body as part of FY 22 budget adoption (May and July 2021).

As a result, City of Rio Rancho staff, through an RFP process, began working with the National Development Council (NDC) to collect information about the community and develop a study to be presented to the Governing Body for potential future planning and development.

NDC has worked with local and state governments to help create and implement unique economic and community development strategies for more than 50 years.

According to its web site, NDC “directs capital to support the development and preservation of affordable housing, creates jobs through small business lending, advances livable communities with social infrastructure investment, and builds capacity with hands-on technical assistance to local governments.”

NDC has developed programs and services that reflect the changing policy environment. NDC provides technical assistance, professional training, small-business lending, debt and equity financing for residential, commercial, public and nonprofit facilities.

NDC’s Corporate Equity Fund is its affordable housing program, the company web site states. It is comprised of multi-investor funds that provide equity capital for the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing using Low Income Housing, Historic Preservation and Renewable Energy Tax Credits. So far the fund’s investments are “at work in communities from rural New York State to Seattle, Washington to Vicksburg, Mississippi to Augusta, Maine,” the web site says.

For information about Rio Rancho municipal government, visit www.rrnm.gov. Follow city government on Twitter (twitter.com/RioRanchoNM) and Facebook (facebook.com/RioRanchoGov).