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Group joins suit against affordable housing plan: Santa Fe Homes gets national nod for work
(Santa Fe New Mexican, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 16--Two days before the city of Santa Fe planned to celebrate an award for its affordable-housing program, a major industry group announced it wants to join a federal lawsuit opposing the rules.
The city's Santa Fe Homes affordable-housing mandate is part of a movement called "inclusionary zoning" that forces builders to include low-priced homes sold to income qualified buyers in any development.
On Tuesday, the Harvard Innovations in American Government Awards Program named the local program as one of its 2008 Top 50. The prize comes with a chance to win a $100,000 grant when a finalist is selected this summer.
Santa Fe's was the only New Mexico program selected for the honor, joined by six projects in Massachusetts, four from California and those in about 20 other states that include topics such as juvenile justice, foreclosure prevention and outdoor wellness.
"Santa Fe's governing body has worked hard to help Santa Fe's working families reclaim the dream of owning a home in their hometown. The national praise for these efforts is well-deserved," said Mike Loftin, director of the nonprofit Homewise, which helps place families in the program.
Implemented in 2005, the city's affordable housing rules put pressure on developers, requiring them to build and sell 30 percent of new ownership housing and rent 15 percent of rental housing at certain prices.
Home builders didn't applaud the program when it was adopted, but dealt with it as part of the cost of doing business in Santa Fe. It wasn't until the City Council amended the rules this year, making them apply to even small projects, that the builders made a legal challenge.
Attorney Ron Van Amberg in February filed the court action on behalf of the Alto Eldorado Partners, Rancho Verano, Cimarron Village, and real-estate developer Dennis Branch and his wife, Joann Branch. On Tuesday, attorney Karl Sommer said he filed a motion on behalf of the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association to add its name to the lawsuit. The association is a nonprofit trade group with about 800 members.
The group's board of directors voted to file a "motion to intervene" that, if approved by U.S. Chief District Judge Martha Vazquez, would make it a party along with the other plaintiffs, Sommer said.
"They have an interest that the law is followed with respect to the monetary exactions that are imposed on the building community, contractors, subcontractors, land subdividers and suppliers, all of whom pay at least in some large measure the cost of affordable housing," he said.
Association president Kim Shannahan said the decision was made last month and shouldn't be a signal his industry doesn't want to improve the availability of low-priced homes in the community, but it does not want to bear such a burden of subsidy.
The city is planning an official announcement of the award for the Santa Fe Homes program on Thursday, an event to be held at a private home in Tierra Contenta.
Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.
To see more of The Santa Fe New Mexican, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.santafenewmexican.com/.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Santa Fe New Mexican
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