Measure introduced to protect Santa Fe renters using housing vouchers

Apr. 10—Santa Fe could soon get legal protections for people with housing vouchers, following the introduction of an ordinance to prohibit landlords from discriminating on the basis of source of income.

"This is the beginning of a conversation on how we deal with having minimum standards for renters in the city of Santa Fe," said Councilor Alma Castro, who is sponsoring the proposal along with Councilor Jamie Cassutt, on Wednesday evening.

The ordinance, which was introduced at Wednesday's City Council meeting, would make it unlawful for landlords to refuse to rent to people because they are using a housing voucher to cover some of the costs of their rent. It also adds sex as a protected class in the city's housing code.

If the bill passes, landlords "would have to have another documented reason they weren't accepting the renter" besides having a voucher, said Office of Affordable Housing Director Alexandra Ladd.

There's nothing wrong with landlords evaluating whether potential renters have enough income to cover the cost of rent, Ladd clarified. But this ordinance would require them to count someone's voucher as part of their total income.

Ladd said she sees the bill as an opportunity to teach the public about the federal housing assistance program and how it operates.

"If you're a landlord and you haven't worked with subsidized tenants before, you might not know how the system works or might not trust it," she said. "This gives us an opportunity to educate the community."

Ed Romero, executive director of the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority, said he could not immediately comment on the bill because it hadn't been on his radar. He said it is "a pretty regular issue," however, for people to fail to find somewhere they can use a voucher before it expires.

A number of other cities across the nation, including Albuquerque and Las Cruces in New Mexico, have similar ordinances. A bill sponsored by Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, in the 2024 legislative session making source of income housing discrimination illegal statewide died in committee.

A 2018 study from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found municipalities where voucher discrimination was prohibited had higher rates of landlords accepting renters with vouchers, though it noted other factors such as tightness of the housing market could play a role.

Cassutt said the bill was initially the project of former Councilor Renee Villarreal, whose term ended last year. Community organizations including housing justice group Chainbreaker Collective were involved as well, she said.

Cassutt described the bill as just one part of the ongoing effort to increase the supply of affordable housing in Santa Fe.

Cassutt noted rental assistance is one thing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund is able to spend money on. With the high-end excise tax scheduled to take effect in May, which will direct money to the trust fund, she said it's important to make sure it can be used to its potential.

"We want to make sure that money is as beneficial for this community as possible," Cassutt said. "That's the whole point of the excise tax."

Two other ordinances were introduced Wednesday evening and will come before the council for debate and votes in the coming weeks. Mayor Alan Webber introduced a resolution making it illegal for people to sit or stand on city medians less than 3 feet wide. That measure, which is similar to anti-panhandling measures that have passed in a couple of other New Mexico towns, is scheduled to return to the council on April 24 and for a final vote May 29.

Webber also introduced a resolution assigning responsibility to purchasers to contest the dollar amount paid for transactions that qualify for the high-end excise tax on home sales over $1 million. Pending a legal challenge, the tax is scheduled to take effect in late May. Webber said the resolution is intended to ensure there is "no ambiguity" in the legislation.