New Mexico
NM governor hiring at least two people for her new statewide housing office • Source New Mexico
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office is seeking applicants to fill at least two jobs for the newly created “Office of Housing,” a small group of executive branch officials tasked with coordinating various statewide housing programs.
Creating a statewide housing office under the governor’s control was one of Lujan Grisham’s main priorities during the 2024 30-day legislative session. Lawmakers ultimately stymied her request to create a formal office with expanded authority, but she did find $2 million to fund new positions to work in her office on the issue over the next two years.
The job openings include a new “director of statewide homelessness initiatives,” who would be responsible for a “coordinated and strategic response” to the growing unhoused population across the state, according to a news release from the governor’s office. The job would pay between $75,000 and $130,000.
The statewide housing office is also hiring at least one more person,creating a general job listing for those “with experience in housing development, programs, policy, regulatory frameworks, data and demographics,” according to the governor’s office.. That job would pay between $50,000 and $120,000.
The governor staffing up a state housing office comes after the Legislature made a historic one-time investment to try and spark home building across New Mexico.
New state money includes a $125 million loan program for affordable housing infrastructure and workforce housing development, a $50 million payment for the New Mexico Affordable Housing Trust Fund and $20 million for initiatives aimed at homelessness.
New statewide housing report finds problems linger with affordability, homelessness, quality
The housing office is built to improve availability and affordability of homes across the state..The governor’s office is seeking “talented and innovative thinkers” to come up with new ideas and to build a strategic approach, according to the release.
“The housing landscape has changed monumentally in the last few years, and it’s time for new models and new levels of coordination,” said Daniel Werwath, whom the governor hired in January to lead the office, in the news release. “The Governor is assembling an experienced team with broad expertise to develop innovative ways to combat the unprecedented housing crisis facing New Mexico.”
Lujan Grisham asked the Legislature to sanction her push for an Office of Housing and grant it new authority, including putting the office’s new director on the board of the New Mexico
Mortgage Finance Authority, which recently rebranded as Housing New Mexico. She made the rare move of advocating for the bill in person in front of a legislative committee.
A bill the governor supported faced pushback from some lawmakers who thought a new office could be redundant or get in the way of existing state entities, like Housing New Mexico. Housing New Mexico officials also lobbied against Lujan Grisham’s proposal.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico plans to build new gates at four campus entrances along Central that will close nightly.
The gates will replace manual barriers in a project expected to cost about $1.5 million.
The Board of Regents approved the security upgrades for the UNM campus.
University officials said the gates will automatically close nightly from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The gates will go in near Princeton Drive, Stanford Drive, Yale Boulevard and Terrace Street on the south end of campus.
A current rendering shows the gate completely blocking the road. Officials said the change will reduce unauthorized traffic and allow police officers to focus more effectively on prevention and response.
Construction will start in May. University officials hope to finish the project by September.
A 9-year-old boy who begged to be released from an immigration detention center so he could attend his state spelling bee has been freed with his family, their lawyer said Wednesday.
Deiver Henao Jimenez made the plea during a video call this month with children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Accurso.
“I don’t want to be here anymore,” Deiver said on the call, which was later shared on Accurso’s social media pages. “Nothing is good here.”
He and his parents, asylum-seekers from Colombia, had been held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas since early March, when they were detained during a routine immigration check-in in New Mexico, according to their lawyer, Corey Sullivan Martin.
ICE freed the family on humanitarian parole Wednesday, about a week after Martin filed a request for their release and days after NBC News reported on their case.
His elementary school principal wrote a letter in mid-March supporting the family’s release, which was later delivered to immigration officials, describing Deiver as “a dedicated student with excellent attendance and high marks.”
Sullivan Martin said Deiver is eager to return to school, rejoin his gifted and talented classes and get back to practicing his spelling words.
“I don’t see how it was necessary at all to detain a child who was doing exactly what we want children to do,” Sullivan Martin said.
The family planned to return to New Mexico, she said, where they will continue checking in with immigration officials while their case proceeds.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Deiver was released a day after ICE freed another child whose case drew widespread attention following a video call with Accurso. Gael, a 5-year-old boy with developmental disabilities, had experienced worsening medical issues while he was detained at Dilley, his parents said.
The facility has faced growing scrutiny from immigration lawyers and advocates, who say children there have struggled to access adequate medical care and education in an environment where lights remain on around the clock and officers stand guard. Some families have described poor food and long waits for medical attention.
DHS has disputed those accounts, saying families are provided appropriate care in a facility designed for their needs.
After her video meetings with the children, Accurso — known for her signature pink headband and singsong delivery — called for Dilley to be shut down and for families to be returned to their communities.
During their conversation, Deiver told Accurso he missed his friends and said the food at Dilley made his stomach hurt. But he was most worried about getting out in time to compete in New Mexico’s state spelling bee in May after he earned a spot by placing third at a regional competition.
“We’re trying to get a child out of a jail to do a spelling bee,” Accurso said last week. “I just never thought those words would go together.”
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