The Housing Forward Initiative, with support from city councilors, is proposing six major changes to Albuquerque’s zoning laws in an effort to address the city’s housing crisis. City leaders believe the new zoning changes could add several thousand rental units to the market much faster than new construction.
“We might as well pick our path, or our path will be picked for us because our housing shortage is so big,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said in announcing the changes.
The first two zoning changes would allow more limited developments in areas currently zoned for single-family homes. City officials want those areas opened to multi-family units like duplexes and make it easier for homeowners to build casitas, or guest houses if there’s room for one.
The third proposal would simplify plans to convert hotels into affordable housing by loosening restrictions that require each unit to have a stove or oven inside.
“There is a market for these converted units for folks who really don’t want or shouldn’t have an oven, that includes our Gen X and multi-millennial friends who are increasingly not cooking at home and shopping every few days for groceries, and seniors or others suffering from mental illnesses or dementia for whom an oven is actually a safety risk,” Mikaela Renz-Whitmore with the city’s Planning Department told KOB.
The fourth proposal eliminates building height restrictions for multi-family developments though there would still be limits in protected neighborhoods.
The final two proposals would reduce or eliminate street parking requirements for multi-family and affordable housing developments.
“We’re not trying to create solutions for everybody,” Renz-Whitmore said. “We’re trying to solve housing limits, limits in the housing available for people who need particular housing options.”
The city’s Environmental Planning Commission heard public comments recently and decided to delay its decision until January. If approved it will then go to the city council’s Land Use and Development Committee for approval, before finally going to the full council for a vote.
