Housing authority director finds critics, supporters
Ed Romero often finds his name in the paper on the receiving end of somebody who’s angry at him or the organization he runs, the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority.
Sometimes it’s from residents whose complaints rise to a public story, and sometimes it’s because he seeks to expand the organization’s services into existing neighborhoods.
It’s almost always a bum rap. Romero may not be ready to pose for a statue, but he is definitely one of Santa Fe’s heroic present-day figures. What he is not is someone who touts the accomplishments of the housing authority under his direction. He also doesn’t suffer fools and openly scoffs at social justice warriors who passionately propagate ideas that won’t work.
Romero is all about doing things that work and doing them well. A born-and-raised Santa Fe guy, he knows the needs of our town. His career has been about serving those needs.
There is a derisive term in the American lexicon for communities where poor people live, “the projects.” A 20th-century construct, they were the social justice warriors’ answer to “slums” and “ghettos.”
They started out with noble intent but quickly became synonymous with crime, drugs, fear and discrimination.
Santa Fe was not immune from the derogatory label on certain neighborhoods. Understandably, Romero hates the word, but he loves the communities that rely on the housing authority.
The organization is responsible for the management of
800 dwelling units spread over 13 sites in Santa Fe alone. Its reputation for scrupulous management and effective wraparound social services led other communities to ask for help, so it stepped up to develop and manage 180 dwelling units in Española, 98 in the town of Bernalillo and a special needs group home in Las Vegas.
The housing authority also distributes 1,100 Housing Choice Program vouchers to assist low-income renters pay market-rate rents for apartments and houses. Romero has said he could build 2,000 new units and there would still be 2,000 more individuals and families unserved in our community.
If simply managing the annual $2 million spent maintaining the units with the authority’s 40 full-time employees sounds like a huge job, it is. But Romero brought a new business model to the housing authority, one far less dependent on the political whims of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development financing.
Virtually every site Romero has developed has earned LEED Platinum status, the greenest and most sustainable level there is. He didn’t have to, but he knew his clients, with average family income under $20,000 a year, deserved just as good as the mansions in the hills. The senior apartments developed on West Alameda Street are net-zero energy, which certainly benefits seniors on fixed incomes.
If Romero were a developer in the private sector, he’d be a rich man. Certainly the $110 million in development and rehabilitation done under his watch has benefited the city, as all that construction brought gross receipts taxes, something our city desperately needs these days.
Now Romero is seeking approval for a modest, 45-unit complex off Cerrillos Road near Calle La Resolana. The underlying zoning allows for what is proposed, but a few neighbors organized themselves to fight the project. I think anything Romero proposes should be given the green light because nobody does it better for those who need it the most.
Romero recently played me a recording left on the answering machine of the housing authority by one if its residents. The message was one of the most profane and vitriolic spews of vile nastiness I’ve ever heard. Ridiculous.
Nobody loves the landlord. Romero hears it all and shrugs it off. Comes with the job. He doesn’t readily admit it, but the arrows sting more when slung by those who should know better.