A new affordable housing community for seniors in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a high priority and, on the horizon, according to KRQE News.
Currently in the works is a new senior living facility, “Farolito Senior,” which is planned to be built on state trust lands, the news outlet reported.
“Rents are going up, and, you know, folks, particularly older adults are on fixed incomes,” said Department of Senior Affairs Strategic Program Manager, Agnes Vallejos. “They’re becoming more and more rent burdened, they might be even house burdened, where they might like to downsize their home, and it’s hard in this market to then buy a home that’s affordable.”
Affordable senior housing is becoming a priority as the adult population grows into the majority, according to KRQE. A study in 2020 projected 40% of Bernalillo County will be made up of older adults by 2030. The “Farolito Senior” facility will consist of 80 to 90 one and two-bedroom units, according to the application.
The new senior living facility will be strategically placed in a centralized location allowing residents to access places nearby. The proposed site is near the intersection of Central Avenue and Eubank Boulevard.
“It’s incredibly accessible, incredibly walkable, part of Albuquerque and East Central,” said Stephanie Garcia Richard, New Mexico’s commissioner of public lands. “By establishing these anchor tenants, what that does is really bring, I believe, some stability, some sort of community to that essential, you know, part of the city.”
The “Farolito Senior” project on more than two acres of state trust land was submitted by the Greater Albuquerque Housing Partnership to the state land office.