U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, introduced legislation in the Senate on Monday that would provide tax credits to incentivize new investments and additional resources for single-family home construction and renovations.
The cost of housing and the shrinking stock of affordable homes has led to a national discussion about housing. Some have said that the current crisis is due to a lack of affordable homes built in the years following the Great Recession. A report issued earlier this year by the Democrats in the Joint Economic Committee, chaired by Heinrich, shows a mostly slow increase in both the price of housing and income levels until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to historically low interest rates. The cost of housing since then has increased sharply while income has continued to rise slowly, according to the report.
The report notes that the shortage of newly-built homes is about 3.8 million.
The legislation will help families whose incomes are up to 120 percent of the area median income. In Albuquerque, that would help families whose annual income is up to $103,680. In Santa Fe, it would aid families whose annual income is up to $109,800 and in Las Cruces, the annual income would be up to $78,960.
Heinrich said through a news release that anyone looking to buy a home feels that “housing prices are too high.”
“My New Homes Tax Credit Act will help boost home construction and renovation for middle-income New Mexicans, growing our local economies and giving more working families a shot at success,” he said.
