Fifty Years of Housing New Mexico

The late Bill Fowler, center, founder of Suburban Mortgage, center, was one of the first mortgage lenders to use Housing New Mexico’s bond money to help low-income families buy homes. He is pictured with his son, Alan Fowler, whose former company, First Mortgage, is also a long-term supporter of Housing New Mexico. Dolly Azar, one of Housing New Mexico's first employees, is pictured at right. read more

Pivotal meeting of state legislators and the fledgling Housing New Mexico board in September 1975. Sen. Joseph Fidel encouraged legislators to work with the Housing New Mexico board to get they organization off the ground. read more

Housing New Mexico's first office building, which the organization purchased in 1979, still stands on the corner of Second Street and Central Avenue in Albuquerque. The building was dubbed “Albuquerque’s modern office building” by the press. Housing New Mexico had an executive director, deputy director and staff of two when it moved into the building. read more

In 1985, Housing New Mexico purchased the YWCA building at Fourth Street and Lead Avenue in Albuquerque. The building had been used to house young women working downtown and also served as an overnight shelter for women traveling alone. The building was constructed in 1940-1941 for $4,500 and is designated as a local significant building, due in part to its territorial revival style architecture. The Housing New Mexico office is still located in this building. read more

In 1991, Housing New Mexico created a program to help families overcome the biggest hurdles to homeownership: saving enough for a down payment and paying for closing costs. This family was one of the first of almost 28,000 families to benefit from Housing New Mexico’s down payment assistance programs. read more

An innovative $202 million transaction that refinanced one-third of Housing New Mexico’s existing bonds generated a $12 million refund to Housing New Mexico in 1992. Just over $2 million of the refund was dispersed to 387 homeowners with Housing New Mexico loans, some of whom are pictured here at a signing ceremony with then Gov. Bruce King. The remainder of the refund was used to create several new Housing New Mexico funding programs that are still in use today. read more

In 1997, Housing New Mexico took over all of the state’s housing programs, including the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. Housing New Mexico also became the primary recipient of federal HOME. Having the LIHTC program and HOME funding allowed Housing New Mexic to finance millions of dollars in housing construction and rehabilitation projects every year. Housing New Mexico was also now responsible for homelessness prevention and assistance programs, weatherization, special-needs housing and rental assistance programs. read more

Housing New Mexico’s 1997 program expansion meant more staff and a need for more space. A 13,000 foot addition was built in 2000. In years following the renovation, the State of New Mexico passed several pieces of legislation that significantly expanded Housing New Mexico’s role as the state’s affordable housing leader. read more

From its shaky beginning, Housing New Mexico has grown into a thriving organization that provides quality affordable housing for more than 18,000 New Mexico households throughout New Mexico every year. read more