Albuquerque plans to spend millions more on its pandemic-driven housing voucher program, despite the unwillingness of more and more area landlords to accept rent vouchers, a local news outlet reported last week.
The City of Albuquerque expects to spend an additional $11 million in its Supportive Housing Voucher Program, which ought to help 1,000 more households pay their rent, according to KOB 4.
New Mexico Veterans Integration Centers Transitional Housing Program Manager Jewel Kessler-Fike
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"Households choose an apartment that they would like to live in, and then if the landlord accepts them as a tenant, the household pays 30% of their income towards the rent and then the voucher helps to pay for the rest of the rent," the city's Housing and Homelessness Deputy Director Lisa Huval told the station.
That's how it's supposed to work, but that isn't how it's working in some cases as a growing number of New Mexico landlords are not accepting the transitional housing vouchers.
The still on-going pandemic has strained the area's housing rental market, and fewer houses available for rent means landlords can be pickier about which tenants to take on.
Albuquerque-area veterans are one vulnerable group getting shut out of housing, New Mexico Veterans Integration Centers Transitional Housing Program Manager Jewel Kessler-Fike said. Kessler-Fike said she currently is trying to place five veterans into homes, and that those who have vouchers of any kind to help pay their rent are having a hard time finding a place to live.
"Multiple apartment complexes are getting bought out by corporations and they're becoming less local," Kessler-Fike said. "Those places are not wanting to accept vouchers — not from the VA, not from Section 8, not from anywhere. So people are becoming displaced."
No laws require landlords to accept these vouchers, but the city is hoping a state-level policy will make a difference while local nonprofits carry the load, Huval said. The city's legislative priorities for the upcoming legislative session include prohibiting discrimination based on income source or government assistance.
"I do think this continues to be a challenge, but it is one that our non-profit partners seem able to meet up to this point," Huval said.