Affordable senior housing complex progresses

LOS LUNAS — An affordable senior housing complex could be making its way to Los Lunas with the support of local leadership.

Recently, the Los Lunas village council approved a rezoning request from Ryan Laber, vice president of development for Spire Development, to allow for a multi-unit independent senior living facility within the requested zone.

The roughly two-acre parcel is located on 880 Juan Perea Road SE in between the Los Lunas Transportation Center and School of Dreams Academy.

The council also unanimously approved a resolution granting the company $550,000, subject to completion of the project.

“We did issue them a qualified grantee letter, stating that they are in fact a great company, so we’re really hoping to see this type of affordable housing project in our community,” said Los Lunas senior economic developer Victoria Archuleta at the Jan. 16 council meeting.

Spire Development, founded in 2014, is based out of Columbus, Ohio. The company currently operates in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Michigan and has one project based in Tucson, Arizona.

According to their website, “Spire Development partners with select municipalities, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and like-minded developers to build and own meaningful rental housing communities for working families and seniors. With each project, Spire engages stakeholders and focuses on the unique aspects of each community to create enriched housing developments that empower residents and neighborhoods alike.”

Laber said the vision for the proposed affordable senior housing complex, Plaza Luna Lofts, is a three story facility housing 60 units with 48 one-bedroom units and 12 two-bedroom units. According to Spire’s site plan documentation, amenities would include a community room with a full kitchen, fitness center, mail room, management and maintenance office and a designated outdoor community area with a picnic shelter

“Then there’s 10 hours of resident activities or services per week, like a cooking class or community gardening or things like this,” said Laber at the council meeting. “The properties are built very nicely. They have an ultra efficient design, so the utility expenses stay low. It’ll be a non-smoking property, and there will be nice landscaping.”

The housing complex would be open to people ages 55 plus. For one person to qualify to live there, their income cannot exceed $48,400 per year. For a two person household income cannot exceed $55,000 per year, said Laber.

“We’re using the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program to fund the project. What that means is tenants pay their own rent, but their rent is scaled to equal 30 percent of their income,” said Laber. “So the average rent for one bedroom, we are underwriting at $775 a month, not including utilities, and the two bedroom at $900 per month (not including utilities).”

To fund the project, Spire is seeking money from a variety of state and federal grant programs, but Laber said having local contribution and support makes a big difference and “a grant from the village would be a key source to make the project feasible.”

Laber said Spire receives one additional point for every 1 percent of the project cost a local jurisdiction provides.

“A grant from the local jurisdiction goes a really long way in terms of making the project competitive in the statewide competition for low-income housing tax credits and some of the other sources that I mentioned,” Laber told the council. “There’s about four of these projects that get funded each year, and a lot of them go to big cities. So the local match, in this amount would be equal to about 3 percent of total development costs, and that would equal three points on our application. Usually these things are decided by a point two or a tie breaker.”

Laber also noted that should the project succeed in finding funding, they would utilize a local team of an architect, general contractor, property management company and provider of resident programming.

“Besides us, the entire team would be a local team,” he said. “And this project will have a permanent affordability restriction, so the project would continue to serve this target population forever.”

“With such a housing shortage in the metro area, here in Los Lunas and Valencia County, there really is a tremendous need for a project like this to house individuals that fit this demographic,” said Archuleta. “Low-income is not that low anymore. It’s now more of a middle income and attainable housing that I believe this project is really looking towards.”

The council unanimously voted in favor of approving the resolution granting $550,000 toward the project, contingent upon Spire receiving a low-income housing tax credit from the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority in the 2025 or 2026 competitive rounds.

“We know that there’s a need for affordable housing and in the village in particular, so we appreciate you guys choosing Los Lunas to work with,” said councilor Gino Romero.

The Valencia County commission also committed to supporting Spire’s project at their January 15 county commission meeting.

Initially, the company asked for a $200,000 grant from the county, but given upcoming budget shortfalls, the commissioners ultimately committed to $25,000.

With recent changes to the property tax exemptions for veterans, Commissioner Troy Richardson pointed out the $200,000 might not be in the budget given that the exact loss of revenue is unknown.

County finance director Loretta Trujillo said while the veterans’ exemption would have an impact on the property taxes collected by the county, the grant requested by Spire would come from gross receipts taxes.

Projected growth in the county would lead to higher GRT, Richardson noted, but if the county falls short on property tax collection increased GRT would be relied on to offset the loss.

Valencia County manager Jhonathan Aragon said this was the first request the county had received for a reimbursement incentive under its affordable housing ordinance.

“This is probably going to happen more often,” Aragon said. “We are looking at putting together funds for future asks.”

He agreed with Commissioner Joseph Bizzell’s suggestion to possibly use revenue from the recreational cannabis tax to support affordable housing projects under the ordinance.

“It won’t get us to a point ... but $25,000 definitely signals local support. I don’t know if it makes our application stronger at the end of the day, but it signals local interest in the project,” Laber said.

Bizzell had a motion to approve $25,000 instead of $200,000 “to show support. We passed the ordinance but I don’t think we could do $200,000 and stay safe but we would like to show support.”

Richardson seconded the motion, which passed 5-0.