Business View Civil and Municipal l January 2023

5 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 OPENING LINES ALBUQUERQUE TAKES ON ITS HOUSING CRISIS WITH NEW INITIATIVE Source,American City and County, Andy Castillo, Published Dec 12, 2022 Like many cities across the United States, Albuquerque, N.M. is facing a housing crisis. Nearly half the city’s renters are “housing cost- burdened” and spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing. “Housing Forward,” a plan launched recently by city administrators, aims to create 5,000 new units beyond what’s projected to be produced in the private market by 2025. “Albuquerque families feel and see the housing crisis every day. Today, we are laying out a bold course of action to lower prices, break down barriers to access, and create urgently-needed housing for our city,” said Tim Keller, Albuquerque’s mayor in a statement announcing the program. “Our families deserve options to live together, from casitas for grandparents to guesthouses for adult children with special needs. For lower income families, housing is vital for their security and prosperity. This is about ensuring everyone has a place in the city we call home.” The initiative was crafted to address the city’s housing crisis based on findings from the Office of Equity and Inclusion’s Housing Equity Needs Assessment report, which was published in October. The report focused on inequality in housing. Among all residents, “Black and Native communities in Albuquerque are at the greatest disadvantage in terms of ability to build wealth through homeownership and entrepreneurship,” O p e n i n g L i n e s