Over $3 million in funding is available for Housing New Mexico’s HOME Rehabilitation Program, which provides home repairs related to health and safety issues, substandard conditions, structural, electrical and code compliance, as well as fall reduction items and accessibility modifications as needed at no cost to eligible homeowners.
The Housing New Mexico Board of Directors approved an updated Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the HOME Rehabilitation program at its January meeting, streamlining the application process and allowing for more service providers to serve New Mexicans in all areas of the state.
“I really admire the process of reviewing current programs, and I encourage us all to continue in this path of taking the time to look at what we are doing right and what we could do better, looking at the future and making the appropriate changes,” said Rebecca Wurzburger, Housing New Mexico Board of Directors Treasurer. “I know these updates took a lot of work, and I want to recognize the hard work staff put into this for the right purpose.”
Housing New Mexico receives federal HOME Investment Partnership Program funds through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) formula grant and allocates a portion of those funds to the HOME Homeowner Rehabilitation Program. Funding is awarded to eligible applicants including – but not limited to – the following:
- Public and private non-profit organizations
- Governmental housing agencies, authorities, entities or instrumentalities
- Regional housing authorities
- Tribal governments or housing agencies
Eligible entities interested in applying for funding may access the NOFA on the Housing New Mexico website.
Homeowners may apply to the program directly through awarded service providers listed on the Housing New Mexico website: https://housingnm.org/programs/home-rehabilitation-and-weatherization/home-rehabilitation-program. Eligibility requirements for the program are as follows:
- Household income must not exceed 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) adjusted for location and household size. For example, in McKinely County, 80% of the AMI for a two-person household is $45,200, and in Grant County, 80% of the AMI for a two-person household is $45,900.
- The home must be owned and occupied by the applicant and must be the applicant’s primary residence.
- The after-rehabilitation value of the home must not exceed 95% of the HUD provided HOME-value guidelines, which are specific to each county and based on average median sales prices.
- Projects are subject to environmental clearance, as well as feasibility and cost reasonableness requirements.
The updated NOFA includes the removal of territorial restrictions, which previously limited homeowners to apply for the program through a single service provider in their county. Homeowners may now apply for the program with any Housing New Mexico-approved service provider that services their county.
“By removing the territories, we will have more service providers available to homeowners and this program will impact even more New Mexicans,” said Donna Maestas-De Vries, Housing New Mexico Chief Housing Officer. “We are also hopeful that more of our Tribal partners will apply for funding to increase the reach of this program. Many homes in our state are in need of rehabilitation, and it is our vision that all New Mexicans have safe, quality housing opportunities.”
Another improvement is that the updated NOFA allows providers to serve the Albuquerque and Las Cruces metropolitan statistical areas, expanding the program’s reach to eligible homeowners statewide, which was not the case under the previous NOFA.
Housing New Mexico, otherwise known as New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority (MFA), was created in 1975 by the New Mexico State Legislature to provide quality affordable housing opportunities for all New Mexico residents. As the state’s housing authority, New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority/Housing New Mexico uses housing bonds, tax credits and other federal, state and private resources to fund more than 40 housing programs. In addition to funding the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing and rental properties, Housing New Mexico’s programs include down payment assistance, homelessness prevention and emergency shelter, weatherization services, rental assistance and housing for people with special needs which have provided over 505,000 families with affordable housing and services since its inception.
To learn more about Housing New Mexico, visit housingnm.org.
La X 96.7- Para Las Cruces, De Las Cruces