Uplift Chronicle March 2023 Interna Edition

FACES OF THE HOUSING CRISIS

THESE ARE YOUR MOTHERS, UNCLES, FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS

The faces of the current housing crisis in Albuquerque are regular people; your aunt, your brother, your children, your coworker. Every week, NMBLC serves more walk-ins from ID residents about to be evicted or scrambling to cobble together vouchers to keep from landing on the street. We’re visited by people who literally have all their belongings—and their children—in the car outside and have no recourse whatsoever. NMBLC has been paying close attention to this escalating crisis since the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) was gutted— without warning—two months back. Absent political will and conscience, the only way to sound the alarm loudly enough for the Powers That Be to act on the terrible tales we’re hearing is to bring faces, voices, and names to their attention.

So, that’s what we did. With Highland Cluster Community School Coordinators, we interviewed a half-dozen residents to capture the reality of their situation for an upcoming Albuquerque City Council meeting. Here are a few we witnessed:

Maria: Mother of 2 kids with 2 dogs living in motels and couch-surfing since last September; her breadwinning husband had “domestic issues” and left during the pandemic; fell behind on rent and when the City offered to pay it back, the property owner declined; put everything in storage and her car; looks for work but has car trouble and food stamps have been delayed because she has no set address; current motel has roaches but someone gave her a microwave to cook with.

Brenda: Mother of 5; a Spanish-speaking APS custodian who fell behind on rent after an injury; forced to throw out food and beds due to rodents and bed bugs in her apartment on Dallas NE; T&C Management promised an “emergency order” to remedy the situation but has stalled indefinitely; unsheltered people defecate in the courtyard outside her apartment, and in January, rent was raised to over $1400, forcing her eldest 2 children to quit Highland High School to work.

Cherie: Working mother of 2 has lived 5+ years at Madeira Flats and never missed rent; was given a 4-week notice to vacate in February; landlord is brand-new and wouldn’t answer why she and other tenants were made to leave; “My kids are aware. With the day [to leave] getting closer, my anxiety is getting higher because of the rental rates right now. It’s just really ridiculous.”

GUARDIAN ANGELS HOW OUR ID SCHOOLS’ COMMUNITY

SCHOOL COORDINATORS ARE THE HELP YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU HAD

If your kids attend an International District Community School, you may have heard there’s a Community School Coordinator (CSC) on campus. Or maybe you haven’t heard. We found it surprising that some families had no idea the resources they had at their hands with the help of the CSCs. Per APS, a Community School is about “a set of partnerships” between the school and other community assets. Community Schools include expanded learning programs, integrated student support, and family and community engagement. The CSCs help drive the school’s commitment to building “improved student learning, stronger families, and healthier communities.”

THE

BEEN

CLOSELY

Amanda Rose Rubio (Hayes Middle School CSC) conducts “comprehensive needs and assets assessments” of her students, and is “responsible for finding resources to provide, such as housing, food boxes, transportation, and donations. The hardest challenge right now,” she states, “is our housing crisis. The rent is rising to an amount that families cannot afford, forcing them to become homeless or living with friends or families. Or, their current living conditions are uninhabitable.” Amanda currently juggles several families on the verge of homelessness. “I work with a couple agencies that assist with paying for hotels, but that’s conditional and families must fit in the agency’s ‘requirements.’ It brings tears to my eyes when I feel I cannot help them. Our families need help!”

Charlton Simmons (Highland High School CSC) considered quitting within his first 90 days as a CSC. “I just became overwhelmed to a degree. But once I changed my approach to the job, it became a better fit.” He was recently concerned seeing a straight-A student affected by their unstable housing situation. They were couch surfing or sleeping in their car with their legal guardian. Charlton noticed the student’s attendance was slipping, which is a telltale sign of stressors. Charlton states how this crisis will play out: either Albuquerque will end up “extremely problematic,” growing a homeless Skid Row like Los Angeles has. Or, the city, county, and state governments will “have to do something they’re reticent to do. And it’s simple: hold these landlords accountable.”

Amanda Carbajal (Van Buren Middle School CSC) works tirelessly for her students’ families, who “are faced with the burden of increased rent and sudden evictions. [They’re] doubling up with other families.” And with “ERAP gone—which many families relied on—they’re faced with uncertainty.” Amanda translated testimonials from Spanish-speaking families about their housing emergencies so that NMBLC could present the shares to the City Council and other civic stakeholders.

It’s encouraging to see such willingness and passion from Community School Coordinators like these who regularly spend their “free” time doing good work for parents, caretakers, and students alike.

NMBLC HAS

WORKING

WITH HARD-WORKING CSC s ON THE CURRENT HOUSING CRISIS AFFECTING STUDENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES IN THE ID.

Amanda Rose Rubio Hayes Middle School

Charlton Simmons Highland High School

Amanda Carbajal Van Buren Middle School

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP

THE LATEST HOUSING LEGISLATION IN NEW MEXICO

In her State of the State address, Governor Lujan Grisham said housing and homelessness are high priority. Bills introduced in the house and senate address three crisis areas: the unhoused, rent, and affordable housing. The current legislative session closes March 18. In the next issue, we’ll see how these bills fared.

Track state legislation Track city legislation

BILLS ADDRESSING AFFORDABLE HOUSING

SB 140 NM HOUSING TRUST FUND

Sponsors: Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, D-Santa Fe; Rep. Cynthia Borrego, D-Bernalillo

Gist: Appropriate $48,000,000 to the New Mexico Housing Trust Fund.

HB 414 CREATE HOUSING DEPARTMENT

Sponsors:

Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Bernalillo Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe Rep. Pamelya Herndon, D-Bernalillo Rep. Angelica Rubio, D-Doña Ana Rep. Meredith A. Dixon, D-Bernalillo

Gist: Create a Housing Department.

BILLS ADDRESSING THE UNHOUSED

HB 389 NO ID CARD FEE FOR HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS

Sponsor: Rep. Raymundo Lara, D-Doña Ana

Gist: Remove fee for ID cards for those 75 years of age or unhoused.

SB 139 SERVICES FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE

Sponsor: Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, D-Santa Fe

Gist: Appropriate $20,000,000 to provide unhoused persons with substance abuse treatment, behavioral health services, and housing.

BILLS ADDRESSING RENT

HB 6 HOUSING AND RENT CHANGES

Sponsors: Rep. Angelica Rubio, D-Doña Ana; Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe; Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero, D-Bernalillo AND

SB 411 HOUSING AND RENT CHANGES

Sponsor: Sen. Leo Jaramillo, D-Los Alamos

Gist: Increase time for renters to make up rent; prohibit owners from terminating a lease during a declared emergency.

SB 99 RENT CONTROL PROHIBITIONS

Sponsors: Sen. Linda M. Lopez, D-Bernalillo; Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero, D-Bernalillo; Rep. Angelica Rubio, D-Doña Ana

Gist: Repeal the prohibition of rent control.

SB 375 RENT INCREASES & AIR-CONDITIONING

Sponsor: Sen. Brenda G. McKenna, D-Bernalillo & Sandoval

Gist: Limit the amount of rent increase in twelve months; require landlords to maintain A/C; prohibit landlords from forcing out residents by interfering with the cooling system.

HB 425 ADDITIONAL HOUSING UNITS

Sponsors: Rep. Cynthia Borrego, D-Bernalillo; Rep. Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe

Gist: Allow additional units within a single-family zoning district.

SB 333 MULTIGENERATIONAL HOUSING AND ZONING

Sponsors: Sen. Antonio Maestas, D-Bernalillo

Gist: Provide additional accommodations for multigenerational housing.

SB 495 AFFORDABLE HOUSING ACT OVERSIGHT

Sponsor: Sen. Roberto “Bobby” J. Gonzales, D-Los Alamos Gist: Appropriate $250,000 for oversight duties related to the Affordable Housing Act.

BILLS ADDRESSING ALBUQUERQUE HOUSING

O-22-59 RESIDENTIAL RENTAL PERMIT ORDINANCE

Sponsor: Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn, District 7

Gist: Create a permitting system for City of Albuquerque residential properties and gather essential local rental market data.

O-22-60 RESIDENTIAL TENANT PROTECTION ORDINANCE

Sponsor: Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn, DIstrict 7 Gist: Address local issues of unfair and deceptive practices in the provision of rental housing by protecting tenants and applicants from excessive and unreasonable fees.

SLUMLORD 101 A CHANCE VISIT TO 7900 BELL

A dilapidated, two-story chunk of brown stucco sits at 7900 Bell SE, east of Louisiana. There are no fire extinguishers in their cabinets; no locks on either courtyard gate. There are jerry-rigged A/C units hastily crammed into half-opened windows, wedged in place by particle board or plywood and tape or adhesive. And there are apartments with rusty sinks, permanently shattered windows, and threadbare carpeting, but no working water heater.

Back in May 2022, the UpLift Street Team was alerted to 7900 Bell when its tenants approached a colleague from the Violence Intervention Program (VIP) and informed him of an imminent mass eviction. Immediately after the Street Team visited, they confirmed the eviction notices, opened a case study on 7900 Bell, sought out its manager and owner, and contacted city, county, and police officials about the property.

By now, you’ve gotten a clear idea that there’s a crisis in housing going on. Housing inequities have been part and parcel of American culture since well before Reconstruction and well after World War II. Today, the headwinds residents of the ID face against tenancy and affordable living conditions include a

LED TO

A SHOCKING CASE STUDY

perfect storm of lax or nonexistent legislative protections, landlord coddling, and a poorly administered and needlessly complex New Mexican housing bureaucracy. 7900 Bell is no exception to this perfect storm; in fact, it may be the storm’s eye.

perpetrate a terrible disservice to their desperate tenants. Their gaming the system was verified by Bernalillo County housing officials who, for some time, had been getting tenant reports about the dilapidated circumstances they lived in, and were frustrated by the owner’s lack of responsiveness.

Ten months later, the saga is still ongoing and the ShotCaller app used to track APD and fire calls proves the conditions there are getting worse. Benefiting from open lines of communication shared with the APD and the AFR’s ADAPT program, the UpLift staff is waiting to hear if 7900 Bell’s stagnant situation will finally call for an escalation on the city or county’s part.

The UpLift staff learned how 7900 Bell’s property owner used the housing voucher program to

In the meantime, the conditions that have been willfully neglected at 7900 Bell serve only to demoralize residents and perpetuate conditions that foster stereotypes and scapegoating and disrupt any possibility of long-term community resiliency. 7900 Bell, like much of the ID, needs system-level interventions right now so that the persistently negative narrative of housing instability can build to a positive conclusion. But for now, the property is so substandard as to be unbelievable.

7900 Bell, like much of the ID, needs systemlevel interventions right now so that the persistently negative narrative of housing instability can build to a positive conclusion.

IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES?

LANDLORDS & TENANTS IN NEW MEXICO

Things are so tense in the housing crisis right now, a judge would grant a divorce based on the seemingly insurmountable and irreconcilable differences in landlord and tenant relationships in New Mexico. Why? Because, on the one hand, landlords (realtors and brokers included) believe that any new housing regulations are akin to government seizure or taking their property for public use. On the other hand, renters believe that landlords are engaging in unprincipled price gouging, having raised rental rates over 30% in two years. Now, a 2 bedroom apartment in Albuquerque can cost about $1,700 per month.

I have some ideas and I bet you do as well. Share your ideas with NMBLC and the Powers That Be. I encourage each of you to read, review, and comment on these bills for yourself. If either concession or reconciliation is to be, it’s up to you and me.

Cathryn McGill, Founder/Director

Various housing-related bills have met with staunch resistance from the Apartment Association and their allies. Albuquerque City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn’s bills, 0-22-59 and 0-22-60, are slogging through the Council agenda. Advocates are hoping that the third time’s a charm for State bills HB 6 and SB 411. (Please see page 3’s “Roundhouse Roundup” for more on these bills.) The Governor is promoting a bill, SB 414, to create a State of New Mexico Housing Authority, but opponents believe the new agency will duplicate the work of the Mortgage Finance Authority. The truth is, our futures are inextricably bound and we must start devising innovative solutions to this escalating housing crisis.

GONE WITH A QUICKNESS

WAS IT CRIME? SHOPPING ONLINE? WHO KNOWS WHY WAL-MART BAILED?

Enrique Cardiel, the executive director of the nonprofit Health Equity Council, is as exasperated as anyone else. Why? Because the Wal-Mart at San Mateo and Zuni just up and left a few days ago. “There’s so many levels of impact [to this]. Because of WalMart, so many small businesses closed, including other grocery stores. So, a lot of people are going to lose access to groceries and others to their banking. That’s where they cashed checks. They’re going to end up needing to go to predatory check-cashing places instead.”

According to the Journal, a Wal-Mart rep said the store was “underperforming,” while others blamed shoplifting. Still others speculated Wal-Mart’s going the Amazon.com route, funneling shoppers to online purchasing.

Regardless, Cardiel and other activists are scrambling: the ID needs to replace the supermarket ASAP because the hood already suffers being a food desert. He’s also concerned about “people having to manage their diabetes or high blood pressure having a hard time accessing a pharmacy.” Cardiel met with Representative Janelle Anyanonu, part of a squad of city and state politicians moving to purchase the store and lot, which City Councilor Pat Davis commented on. “[There’s] an opportunity to lure a new chain—or better, someone local—to be the anchor provider for fresh, quality food every working family needs. I have begun working with Commissioner Adriann Barboa, Mayor Keller, and our legislators to find sources of funding to purchase the site or at least incentives [for] the kind of development the community deserves.”

Councilor Pat Davis

Rep. Janelle Anyanonu

Enrique Cardiel Courtesy KRQE.com

FALCONS TAKE FLIGHT

LIKE 2023’S NMBLC THEME “TAYARI,” OUR SOCCER PLAYERS ARE GETTING READY

There’s nothin’ wrong with promoting physical, mental, and emotional growth in our kids. When we build a sense of community and connection with them, that helps them build their own future. And that’s the idea behind our Van Buren Middle School Soccer Program, headed up by UpLift Street Team Coordinator Derek Lujan.

The program is intended to give students an opportunity to practice together, grow in teamsmanship, and play matches against other schools. Van Buren is a majority-Hispanic school with a high percentage of ESL students and also students who primarily speak Swahili at home. The Falcons soccer team will offer support and guidance and can help buoy academic achievement rates.

Coach Lujan grew up blocks away from Van Buren and first spoke Spanish with his immigrant parents before his brother helped him with English. He’s excited to give back to the community he’s closely connected to. “I’ll be coaching alongside APD Ambassador Hence Williams,” a former college athlete and SWAT officer invested in the well-being of the ID’s kids. Van Buren’s own ace volleyball coach and Middle School Leadership Program (MSLP) director, Darius Fuller, will also be assisting.

The middle school provided the team’s cool uniforms and is allowing use of their field. An $800 program stipend will be used for transportation and the season runs from mid-March through the end of April, with practices usually starting at 3:30p. Please contact Derek Lujan at dlujan@nmblc.org or 505.859.7967 if you have any questions and let’s get ready to soar into our inaugural season!

CODA BAKERY “ON THE RISE”

Since 2006, when Uyen Nguyen opened Coda Bakery in a tiny L-shaped space on Louisiana, diners have cheerfully packed themselves elbow-to-elbow at its little tables. When the Vietnamese restaurant expanded by a precious 9 feet, the table space doubled–and the place remained packed, the lunchtime line still stretching from counter to door. No wonder. Locals know about Coda’s fresh, made-to-order menu: plump spring rolls, bountiful noodle bowls, crisp-crusted banh mi sandwiches stuffed with flavorful fillings, and much more. The Food Network’s Guy Fieri visited in 2022 and was also blown away, calling Coda’s creamy housemade tofu among “the top best three tofus I’ve ever had in my life.”

The remodeled spot is still very small. Every day is “literally Tetris,” laughs Nguyen. To find a larger space, Coda is moving west. After sharing a

parking lot with Talin World Food Fare for nearly two decades, the restaurant’s new location at 201 San Pedro SE will inhabit the Central Mercado with El Mezquite Latin Market.

This customized space will be nearly double the size, allowing Coda to keep its current recipes and add new dishes, like a selection of rice bowls. Nguyen says the new shop will also be “warmer, with a more modern atmosphere,” and plans to open it this summer.

It’s important to Nguyen to relocate near her original International District location, so Coda can stay near catering clients and Asian markets–and so loyal customers don’t “feel a shock.”

Derek Lujan

Hence Williams

PARTNERING WITH THE COMMUNITY

EAST CENTRAL MINISTRIES SUPPORTS THE WHOLE PERSON

“Rents are up about 25% over the last few years,” says Judy Wolf, co-director of East Central Ministries. Judy has a front-row seat to the developing housing crisis in the International District: Right outside the ECM’s offices on Vermont and Central, she has seen a definite “increase in the number of unsheltered people.”

“With ERAP now being gone, it is difficult.” Since the government rental assistance program stopped taking applications on January 1, a focus on community solutions for families is even more important, and East Central Ministries has a rainbow of approaches. “The goal is holistic,” Judy says. “How do we support the whole person?”

One Hope Health Center, a community clinic offering affordable health care; dental, behavioral health, and medical clinics; and diabetes prevention, nutrition, women’s health, and cancer prevention classes, is one important facet. ECM also features a unique food cooperative, an urban farm, and

community programs. The most important thing is “community–to get people together and moving.”

ECM also works to help people stay housed, negotiating with landlords and equipping clients with the tools to find better jobs, develop skills, and advocate for themselves. Its family stability program focuses on helping kids in APS to stay housed and in the same school, avoiding the upheaval that can harm their health and school success.

“Everything we do, it’s from the community itself,” Judy Wolf says. “How can we partner together to do this?”

TROUBLE WITH RENT AND BILLS?

THE UPLIFT INITIATIVE IS ALL ABOUT YOU.

Find out more about rental assistance, workforce solutions, mental health, COVID/ endemic concerns and health, voter registration, broadband relief, and more at nmblc.org/uplift or scan the QR code below.

Holla at us at uplift@nmblc.org or call 505.407.6784

UPLIFT CONTRIBUTORS

For inquiries, comments or ideas: uplift@nmblc.org or 505.407.6784

PUBLISHER

CATHRYN MCGILL

MANAGING EDITOR / WRITER