Homelessness in New Mexico has increased, particularly in the Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe areas, despite a half-billion dollar investment in recent years, according to a new report from the Legislative Finance Committee.
Housing leaders last week briefed state lawmakers at a hearing at Central New Mexico Community College. Analysts with the LFC found that Bernalillo County’s unhoused population, in particular, doubled between 2022 and 2024.
“I want everyone to be able to have the dream of owning their own home,” Gilbert Ramirez, Albuquerque’s Health, Housing and Homelessness director, told the panel of state lawmakers, adding that the cost of home construction and ownership has significantly increased in recent years, which has shifted increased costs onto rentals…