State and local lawmakers broke ground on the Arcadia Phase 4 project in Las Cruces Wednesday, one of various projects funded by $120 million allocated by the state to help increase affordable housing and reduce homelessness throughout New Mexico.
Officials gathered in a lot located in Las Cruces’ East Mesa at the northeastern reaches of the city, where new residential construction is largely focused. The housing project will include 52 single-family homes in the Arcadia subdivision, Natalie Green, housing and neighborhood revitalization administrator for the city, told Source New Mexico.
Green explained that the Arcadia neighborhood has been many years in the making and is part of the city’s master plan. She said the next development is Mesa Vista and areas will again be set aside for affordable homes, but construction is still years away.
“We’re planning well in advance,” Green said. “We just want to emphasize, especially for Arcadia, that it’s single family homeownership. It’s for those first-time home buyers, for some of our families who are just currently priced out of the market, whether it be because of escalating costs or interest rates, and so we’ve developed a program to just help get families into single family housing.”
The program is a partnership between the City of Las Cruces and Tierra Del Sol Housing Corporation, which works to help people attain housing.
The Arcadia project received $3.25 million in state funding, according to a news release from the city. Las Cruces and Doña Ana County received a total of $11 million of the state’s $120 million affordable housing and homelessness allocation in House Bill 2 during the most recent legislative session.
The other projects include more single-family home neighborhoods, multifamily rental housing, senior housing, transitional housing and the Landlord Risk Mitigation Program – a partnership between the city and Mesilla Valley Community of Hope, a nonprofit organization that provides various assistance to unhoused people.
“There is a vision for what this community wants to look like, and how you want to build, how you want to support the families who are from here, how you want to accommodate new growth, and how you want to…support all different income levels of family,” New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions Sec. Sarita Nair said during the groundbreaking. “And that was really, again, unique in the state and it made it easy to make the choices to make these investments here.”
Rep. Nathan Small (D-Las Cruces), chair of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, said the work of the committee during the most recent legislative session was focused on supporting investments that make life easier for New Mexicans.
“I am absolutely dedicated to making sure that we have first-class infrastructure, investment and support across every area, so that we have jobs, and you see fewer help wanted signs,” Small said during the groundbreaking. “That’s going to drive down costs for all of us and make life affordable, so that we have a wide range of places for folks to live. And you know what that does? That makes it more affordable for all of us to live in this incredible community, even as it continues to grow.”
