Year-round vacation destination Red River, a small town that normally welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, is experiencing similar problems facing many other communities across New Mexico and the country.
A worker shortage has led to many restaurants and other businesses reducing hours, said Mayor Linda Calhoun.
But the community, home to less than 500 permanent residents in a valley high in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, has another problem connected to the workforce shortage: lack of housing. Red River also has a sizeable "second home" population.
Mayor Linda Calhoun is also a gift shop owner and estate agent.
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"One of our biggest challenges right now is workforce housing," Calhoun told the New Mexico Sun. "We were successful in getting legislative funding to purchase two motels and convert those into long term housing. That added 33 units to our inventory, but it is still not enough. A lot of our workforce comes from surrounding communities, but commuting up to one hour each way is not optimal for many.
"Another challenge that ties back to housing, is the shortage of workers right now," she said. "We have several openings at the town and many of our restaurants and other businesses have had to reduce hours of operation because of this shortage."
Red River, approximately 35 miles north of Taos and founded as a mining camp in the 19th century, welcomes 500,000 visitors annually – skiers, hikers, bikers, fishers and those who simply want to get away.
Calhoun, a gift shop owner, estate agent and mayor since 2006, wants to develop tourism, but also improve the town’s infrastructure. They go together, she said.
"One of the first projects I was involved in was a River Restoration Project," Calhoun said. "This was a $1,000,000 project that included bank stabilization, replacing vegetation and creating waterfalls and fishing holes along the Red River throughout the town limits. We completed this in three phases and received our funding from the state."
Since then, town leaders have completed major upgrades to the water and sewer systems and wastewater treatment plant, along with renovating the existing water tank and constructing a new one.
"Being surrounded by the National Forest presents its own set of issues, one being that our treatment plant, one of our parks, our cemetery and a major road were all located on National Forest land, and the town operated these under a special use permit," Calhoun said. "This limited opportunities for expansion and even maintenance. We were able to work with our congressional delegation and after eight long years were successful in having the 40 acres of land conveyed to the town through a bill signed by President Obama in 2014."
Overall, Calhoun remains optimistic about the present, and the future, of Red River.
"We are seeing an uptick in tourism, real estate is strong and we are seeing new businesses begin to come in," she said, adding that the town has been awarded $5.5 million from the Department of Transportation for a major sidewalk project and upgrades to Main Street.
The end of the pandemic and return to normalcy cannot come soon enough for the mayor.
"I’m excited about the anticipated revenues the state is projecting for the upcoming session," she said. "I’m hopeful that we will continue to get funding for some major projects that need to be completed."
Calhoun is not without concerns, such as how recreational cannabis might affect communities and the state. And from a personal standpoint, an election next year looms.
That is "always cause for apprehension," she said.