By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

The Los Alamos Housing Partnership has ended but the Los Alamos County’s assistance to homebuyers and homeowners will continue.

During its Dec. 3 meeting, County Council unanimously approved for Los Alamos to enter a contract with the Santa Fe Community Housing Trust.

“We were really excited at the Housing Trust when this RFP came out to be able to expand in the Los Alamos area,” Executive Director Roman Abeyta said. “We pride ourselves at the Housing Trust in supporting, educating and advocating for homebuyers to make their housing goals a reality.”

He said the Santa Fe Housing Trust has been in operation since 1988 and has a staff of 12 employees.

The seven-year contract totals $2 million and will be used to facilitate the County’s Home Buyer Assistance Program along with the Home Rehabilitation Program.

According to agenda documents, the programs do the following:

• Home Buyer Assistance Program aids first-time homebuyers to overcome financial hurdles with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) certified counseling staff through a streamlined referral process and case management services. Comprehensive education workshops will be offered along with down payment assistance such as non-amortizing and amortizing loans.
• Housing Rehabilitation Program helps improve the quality, safety, and energy efficiency of existing homes for low- and moderate-income residents of Los Alamos through grants, non-amortizing, and low-interest loans for essential home repairs, accessibility modifications and energy-efficiency upgrades.

Suggested alternative programs are also identified in the agenda documents such as:

• Shared Equity Housing Programs to create long-term affordable homeownership.
• Acquisition of land in Los Alamos for development of homes for low- and moderate-income families.
  Management of permanent affordability requirements and properties.
• Acquisition and rehabilitation of vacant, underutilized, or abandoned properties to increase affordable housing units.

Housing and Special Project Manager Dan Osborn emphasized that the $2 million contract is solely for Santa Fe Community Housing Trust’s services; the funds for the housing programs come from a separate pool of money.

Councilor David Reagor asked how much money is in the two programs. Osborn said they currently have $400,000.

Hopefully, he added, council will be asked to approve more money for the programs and that he plans to pursue any potential grant funding and other sources of revenue.

The Los Alamos Housing Partnership ended in March; it had been in operation for many years, Osborn said. He added that the contract amount with Santa Fe Housing Trust is comparable to the one the County entered with the Housing Partnership.

“All the rehab and homebuyer loans under those programs with the Housing Partnership had been closed and handed off to the County so there are no outstanding contractual obligations on either the part of the Housing Partnership or from the County to the Partnership,” he said.

The hope is that with the Santa Fe Housing Trust’s help, more people will be assisted by the programs, Osborn said.

The target is to get 10-15 participants per year for each program, he explained.

The average number of participants for the Home Renewal program under the Housing Partnership was six and the average for the Homebuyer Assistance program under the Housing Partnership was four participants.

To achieve this target, Osborn said work was done on the County’s affordable housing plan to increase the upper limit of income eligibility for these programs by 40 percent. It is now 80-120 percent of the Area Medium Income (AMI).

“So, we increased who can participate and how we can help them … (It) opens up who we can help. We also feel a more robust marketing and communication program … will be able to help us … to find folks in targeted areas who are looking for homes that we’ll be able to help participate in these programs.”

Osborn added that “we’re really hoping that the added capacity will get us back to the numbers we originally anticipated under the previous contract.”

Council Vice Chair Theresa Cull asked how the community can find out about these programs.
The County will sit down with the Housing Trust to develop a marketing plan, an outreach plan and a communication plan, Osborn said. Marketing will target people who fall in the 80-120 percent range of the AMI.

“We really are going to use the resources and talent that the Housing Trust brings to leverage that to bring to our community,” he said.

Abeyta added that the Housing Trust communicates through traditional means and social media.

With the contract secured, Osborn told the Los Alamos Daily Post Friday that “We are excited to be partnering with and bringing the Santa Fe Community Housing Trust into our community.”

He added that the Housing Trust will be “setting up shop here in Los Alamos” and the plan is to offer a variety of ways for clients to access resources such as office hours and teleconferencing.

As they move forward with the Housing Trust, Osborn commends the work done by the Los Alamos Housing Partnership.

“They did a lot of good work in our community over the years … we should be lifting up their work and saying ‘thank you’ to Steve (Brugger), Cindy (Hollabaugh), and their board for all the work over the years. If anything, we’ve learned that the need for down payment assistance for first time homeowners has grown as well as assistance with home repairs for those with low-, moderate, and fixed-incomes. We’ll really be targeting those groups.”

If interested in participating, Osborn said email housing@lacnm.us and be added to a list.

Council Chair Denise Derkacs said she is pleased to see the County’s housing programs continue.

“This is an important service to the community, especially with the new affordable housing plan and the broader range of eligibility, hopefully we can serve more people in the community,” she said.