Community Development

Housing Department

City of Santa Rosa - Housing Development Plan – Executive Summary

        EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The City of Santa Rosa is a small, economically vibrant community located along Interstate 40 in eastern New Mexico. Housing in general, and affordable housing in particular, are great challenges for Santa Rosa, because few new homes have been built in recent years and the old housing stock is deteriorating. Meanwhile, the City has experienced significant growth in its workforce and increases in local incomes, due to the opening of the Guadalupe Corrections Facility in the late 1990s. With newly found purchasing power and few housing options, some residents of Santa Rosa have purchased manufactured homes instead of making an investment in a site-built home. The lack of capacity in the community—from homebuyer counseling to financial institutions—coupled with the lack of housing stock itself, have caused residents to become “stuck” in their housing situations, with little room for change.

Housing Needs

Through their participation in a housing survey conducted for this plan, 80% of Santa Rosa residents feel that affordable housing is needed in Santa Rosa. A vast majority agree that increasing options for financing home purchase, followed by home renovation and repair and renovating and/or demolishing abandoned homes, are top priorities for the community. In addition, Housing Strategy Partners has identified the following housing needs in Santa Rosa:

Special Needs Housing

1. There are potentially five to ten families experiencing chronic and/or episodic homelessness in Santa Rosa.
2. Emergency shelter and transitional housing is currently non-existent and badly needed in the community.
3. Only one program to help prevent homelessness is offered on a sporadic basis, in Santa Rosa—a rental assistance or utility payment program for renters earning less than $1,000 per month.
4. There is a high demand for subsidized housing for independent seniors, based on the 100% occupancy rate at Las Casas de Vida.
5. There is an emerging and potentially urgent need for housing with supportive services, given Guadalupe County’s higher than average number of people with self-described disabilities and the 400% increase in seniors describing themselves as “disabled”.
6. Given its location, Santa Rosa will continue to face emergency shelter situations when weather events strand freeway travelers.

Rental Housing

1. 25% of renters are rent-burdened (paying more than 30% of their incomes for housing costs), which is lower than cost burden rates in the rest of the state. There appears to be more demand for units available in the open market than for units at the larger apartment complexes, based on vacancy rates at the latter.
2. It appears that few rental vouchers are in use at scattered site rental homes or at apartment complexes with fewer than 10 units.  This has the effect of segregating renters with lower incomes at the three larger apartment complexes.
3. The affordability compliance period for Cinnamon Ridge ends in 2012. If the affordability compliance period is not extended there is potential to lose 41 units of subsidized rental housing that would likely create adverse impacts on Santa Rosa’s renters with limited incomes.

Homeownership

1. Without the addition of new housing available to homebuyers in Santa Rosa, renters and current homeowners who would like to move up, are likely to remain “stuck” in their current housing situations.
2. 30% of Santa Rosa’s current renters have the capacity to become homeowners with little or no subsidy; an additional 32% may qualify for homeownership with down payment assistance or other financial subsidy.
3. There are two tiers of owner-occupied units needed in Santa Rosa: entry level housing (affordable to renters earning from $30,000 to $50,000) and “move up” housing (affordable to renters or existing homeowners earning more than $50,000).
4. The estimated number of owner-occupied units for which there is a demonstrated demand ranges from 14, at the most conservative estimate, to 83 for entry-level homes; and 12 to 71 for “move up” housing.
5. Potential homebuyers need locally-based homebuyer services: training, counseling, financial products and post-purchase support in order to maximize their buying power and to ensure they are getting the financial products that best meet their needs and protect their interests.

Rehabilitation and Homeowner Support

1. Over half of Santa Rosa’s housing stock is more than 35 years old, compared to one-third of the homes in the rest of the state. 
2. Increased vacancy rates indicate that some older homes are abandoned or demolished due to their condition; the windshield survey reveals that many homes are in extremely sub-standard conditions, demonstrating the need for owner and landlord rehabilitation services.
3. Respondents to the housing survey ranked housing rehabilitation activities as the second and third most important housing options for Santa Rosa.
4. Cost burden for existing homeowners in Santa Rosa is higher than for the state as a whole.  Demographic data suggests that many of these homeowners are seniors and/or persons with disabilities who may be in need of immediate support to maintain or improve their current housing situations.
5. The needs of homeowners with low incomes may include: assistance with homeowner or rental retrofits to improve accessibility and safety in existing units; education about and assistance with home mortgage options like reverse mortgages for senior and/or chronically ill homeowners; advocacy regarding foreclosure prevention and/or avoidance of predatory lending products; and basic weatherization services.

Housing Recommendations

            To meet Santa Rosa’s housing needs identified above, Housing Strategy Partners recommend that the City of Santa Rosa implement the following:

1. Designate an affordable housing coordinator, either expanding the role of an existing nonprofit, or assigning the task to a City staff position. The position will be responsible for providing on-site information about affordable housing services; conducting public outreach; bringing affordable housing services into the city through contractual agreements; and implementing the recommendations suggested in this plan.
2. Develop a new residential subdivision between 20-30 units to accommodate mixed incomes and homes at varied price points.
3. Consider a homebuyer rehabilitation program that offers low-interest loans for homeowners to maintain their homes. A future component of the program may include the purchase of vacant or deteriorating properties, rehabilitating them and selling them at affordable prices to qualified Santa Rosa residents.
4. Provide supportive services and emergency shelter and transitional housing, ideally in a wing in the Los Amigos Nursing Home facility.
5. Develop and implement an education campaign encouraging investment in site-built homes that build a family’s wealth and equity.

        For more information please contact Sunshine Zamora szamora@srnm.org or Richard Delgado rdelgado@srnm.org   City of Santa Rosa  575 472 3404/3763