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Albuquerque city councilors on Monday will kick off their first meeting of the year with a vote to elect the new City Council president. Councilors are also expected to vote on a proposal to improve the city’s housing voucher program, a proposal to make it easier for housing developments to get a green light and a returning bill to fix the vacant property issue in Downtown.
Housing vouchers
A proposal, sponsored by Councilor Renée Grout, is aimed at improving the city’s housing voucher program.
The bill would direct the Health, Housing and Homelessness Department to make the voucher program “more efficient and transparent.” The proposal comes after the department ended its contracts with a housing voucher service provider that misused funds.
Grout and Councilor Nichole Rogers have worked to reform the voucher programs this year, read more about their efforts and the proposal here.
Easing restrictions on housing developments
Councilors are also expected to consider a proposal to ease restrictions on housing developments.
Councilor Joaquín Baca and Council President Dan Lewis are sponsoring the bill — which Baca said would make it easier to finish housing projects and will “get a lot more attention” Monday night.
“[The bill is] essentially is to build more housing,” Baca said. “We have vouchers that don’t get spent because there’s literally no place to spend those vouchers at. This would make that a whole lot easier to do.”
The legislation also proposes making the appeal process more expansive for property owners or neighborhood associations who wish to appeal a development.
Downtown vacant buildings
Another proposal from Baca would put more pressure on owners of Downtown vacant properties.
The measure comes from a controversial bill the council shot down in October. The original bill would have created “no obstruction zones” and effectively ban sleeping or sitting on Downtown sidewalks.
The new proposal excludes the “no obstruction zones,” strictly focusing on implementing more regulations for vacant properties. The legislation cites vacant properties as a “public nuisance” and argues the bill will renew “economic opportunity and overall prosperity” for Downtown.
