Title
Incorporated County of Los Alamos Code Ordinance No. 02-360, An Ordinance of the Incorporated County of Los Alamos Amending Article VII of Chapter 14, Affordable Housing
Recommended Action
I move that Council adopt Incorporated County of Los Alamos Code Ordinance No. 02-360, as presented in Attachment D, and ask staff to assure that it is published as provided in the County Charter.
County Manager's Recommendation
The County Manager recommends that Council adopt Incorporated County of Los Alamos Code Ordinance No. 02-360 as presented in Attachment D.
Body
The County, region, and nation are experiencing an acute shortage of housing. This lack of housing affects the quality of life for people who live and work in the county and creates a problem for the local economy, which depends on a diverse labor force that supports not only knowledge based and skilled workers but also small businesses, services, trade, retail, and other lower-paying local jobs.
The State of New Mexico enacted amendments to the New Mexico Affordable Housing Act, in 2007. This Act, located in Chapter 6, Article 27 of the New Mexico Statutes, requires the local governing body to adopt an Affordable Housing Plan (“Plan”) and Ordinance if it wishes to provide donations or support towards affordable housing projects. This Act works in conjunction with the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority to provide the framework by which counties statewide can implement their own affordable housing plans and ordinances. Together, the Affordable Housing Act and the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority Act will be referred to hereafter as “the Acts.”
Affordable housing projects are residential housing primarily for persons or households of low- to moderate-income. Through the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority (“MFA”), the Acts permit State and local governments latitude to provide, or pay all or a portion of the costs of, acquisition, development, construction, financing, operating or owning affordable housing projects.
The purpose of the County’s Affordable Housing Plan, as adopted on August 27, 2024, (“the Plan”) and Affordable Housing Ordinance (“the Ordinance”) are to continue complying with the Acts while substantiating a need and justification based on updated data for financial donation by the county. The Plan identifies barriers to affordable housing and offers goals and recommendations - the Toolbox - to address them. The Ordinance, in conjunction with the Plan, grants Los Alamos County the constitutional authority and the legal and practical infrastructure to provide public financial support for affordable housing.
The details of the updated Affordable Housing Plan were presented to Council on June 25, 2024, and adopted on August 27, 2024. At that time, the staff also presented the MFA-approved Amended Ordinance which is now ready for consideration and adoption.
Summary of Changes made to the Ordinance after Introduction
The Ordinance was Introduced on August 6, 2024 (Attachment A). Shortly after the introduction of the Ordinance, it came to the attention of the staff that the template propounded by the New Mexico MFA had not been updated and was therefore inconsistent with the MFA Rules as to one subsection. This template is offered by MFA as the exemplar for affordable housing ordinances statewide and was used both to draft the County’s original affordable housing ordinance as well as to guide the amendment to this ordinance now before Council.
This kicked off an intense review by the Los Alamos County Attorney’s office in collaboration with MFA. During the joint review, it was determined that the MFA template did not match the MFA Rules. However, it was also determined that a section of the MFA Rules did not comply with the Acts. The Acts are the governing law and where the Rules and the Acts conflict, the Acts will govern. Through this process the Ordinance was amended to reflect the necessary changes to be in conformance with state law. In addition, staff took this opportunity to correct a couple of minor clerical errors from the introduced Ordinance. The Amended Ordinance is attached as Attachment D.
In accordance with the County Charter Section 203.2.3, if Council approves the amendments to the Ordinance, Council may not adopt it until it has been considered by continuance of the meeting or at a future meeting not less than seven (7) days after the initial meeting. This requirement has been met through the continuation to the September 10, 2024 meeting.
Council is being requested to adopt the Affordable Housing Amended Ordinance as shown on Attachment D.
MFA has reviewed and approved the Amended Ordinance with the post-introduction modifications included.
Attachments
A - Ordinance No. 02-360 Affordable Housing
B - MFA Affordable Housing Ordinance Approval Letter dated August 19, 2024
C - Notice of Publication
D - Ordinance No. 02-360 Affordable Housing - Amended