The Rental Assistance Program provides short- and medium-term rental assistance for families and individuals who are homeless or who are at imminent risk of becoming homeless. The goal of the program is to help these families and individuals regain stability and to reduce the likelihood that they will experience homelessness again. MFA has many valuable partners in the state of New Mexico who use the RAP program to assist people experiencing homelessness and to ensure that those most at risk of becoming homeless remain housed.
MFA does not provide direct assistance. MFA partners with Support Service Providers in the counties who administer our programs. Below is a list of Rental Assistance Program Providers. Please contact them directly to apply for assistance.
Catholic Charities
Serving Bernalillo and Sandoval Counties - 505.724.4604
CLNKids, Inc
Serving Bernalillo, Valencia and Sandoval Counties - 505.843.6899
Crisis Center of Northern NM
Serving Los Alamos and Rio Arriba Counties - 505.753.1656
Enlace Communitario
Serving Bernalillo, Sandoval and Valencia Counties - 505.246.8972
The Life Link
Serving Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Los Alamos and Taos Counties - 505.438.0010
Mesilla Valley Community of Hope
Serving Doña Ana County - 575.523.2219
HopeWorks
Serving Bernalillo County - 505.242.4399 ext. 262
San Juan County Partnership
Serving San Juan County - 505.566.5866
Western Regional Housing Authority
Serving Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Socorro, Valencia and Torrance Counties - (575) 388-1974 ext. 12
Valencia Shelter Services
Serving Valencia County - 505.565.3100
RENTAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FORMS
NOTICE: Under the McKinney-Vento Act, as amended by the HEARTH Act, the definition of “at risk of homelessness” requires that an individual or family’s income be below 30 percent of median family income (or area median income). Further, the ESG Program interim rule limits eligibility for homelessness prevention assistance to individuals and families with incomes below 30 percent of AMI. However, under the ELI standard, an allowable income could actually be higher than 30 percent AMI. Therefore, if ESG recipients/subrecipients were to use the ELI standard, some applicants for ESG assistance might be falsely determined to be eligible for homelessness prevention assistance, when actually their incomes were over 30 percent AMI.
In short, the 30 percent AMI limits are NOT the same as the Extremely Low-Income limits, and ESG recipients and subrecipients MUST NOT use the ELI standard (Section 8 limits) when determining program participant eligibility for homelessness prevention assistance. The 30 percent income limit only applies to the Homeless Prvention component of the program. Upon initial evaluation, individuals or families who meet the definition of homelessness under Rapid Re-Housing are not required to meet the AMI limit of 30 percent.
