A recent affordable housing initiative was launched to much fanfare. Comprised of 180 homes in Santa Fe, Las Cruces and Deming, this initiative is a partnership of UnitedHealth, a private health insurer, contributing $22M and the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, a “quasi-public entity” contributing the remainder of the $50M. Let the self-congratulations begin! Or should it?
First, why exactly is UnitedHealth ‘investing’ in these homes? It has nothing to do with their core business and is an awful lot for the company to fork over only in the name of community do-goodery.
Second, why does it cost so much? 50,000,000 dollars divided by 180 homes is about 278 thousand dollars per home. Doesn’t that seem a bit much for a so-called ‘affordable home? According to Trulia, the median home price paid in Santa Fe is 226 thousand dollars. And not all of the homes are set to be in Santa Fe. 120 of them are to be located in Las Cruces and Deming both with median home prices of about 145 thousand dollars? If the 180 houses are divided by location and multiplied by those locations’ median home price the result is 31 million dollars.
Why is it that an affordable house costs 17% more than the median home price in one of our state’s most expensive to live in cities? And why is it that an affordable home initiative funded mostly though a “quasi-public entity” costs 38% more than the median home price of their neighborhoods? And why is no one asking these questions? Could it be because affordable housing is the perfect cover, dissuading inconvenient questions?
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