S.F. County declines to buy troubled apartments

Letter from lawmakers accuses owner of mismanaging property in Española

The future of a troubled apartment complex housing low-income residents in Española could depend on whether Santa Fe County officials can find a developer willing to fix up the property — an undertaking expected to cost millions of dollars.

The County Commission declined to purchase the 49-unit complex outright Friday but unanimously authorized County Manager Gregory Shaffer to try to find a company to purchase and redevelop it. The property is in severe disrepair, and 17 remaining families have been threatened with eviction.

Sheridan, Wyo.-based Bosley Management, the owner of La Vista Del Rio Apartments, must first give the county, rather than the city of Española, permission to control the sale of the property and time to request proposals from developers. Bosley has attempted to clear out and close the complex.

Española had entered a deal to buy it in April before deciding to back out in August.

Santa Fe County has not committed resources to improving the complex, but Shaffer said there are avenues for the county to support redevelopment, such as acting as a conduit for state funds or securing tax-advantaged financing for the project.

“It might ... be a long shot, I think, that we get both the agreement of the owner and find a developer willing to take this on,” Commissioner Hank Hughes said at Friday’s meeting.

The property is heavily subsidized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hughes said the agency “really let the community down by not monitoring this property and ... letting it fall into such disrepair.”

Commission Chairwoman Anna Hansen said taking a risk to try to save the complex is important because of the affordable housing crisis the area faces.

“This is the number one thing that we’re all concerned about because of the level of homelessness that we have in Santa Fe County,” she said.

“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen it, for sure, and I’ve lived here for 50 years.”

Project Moxie, a Colorado-based housing consultant organization, has worked with Española for months to save La Vista Del Rio and pledged to help Santa Fe County find a developer. Its local work on the complex is funded by Santa Fe-based Anchorum St. Vincent.

The county will need to negotiate a closing date with Bosley for the sale of the apartments, said Jenn Lopez,

president of Project Moxie.

At least a few developers have expressed interest, she added.

Lopez told Española officials last month an assessment completed in July found the complex needs more than $4.3 million in maintenance work to bring its six buildings up to code.

Santa Fe County Community Development Director Paul Olafson gave commissioners a higher estimate: $7 million. He advised the commission against owning and operating the complex.

Bosley owner John Bosley did not respond to multiple calls requesting comment.

Bosley remains responsible for the apartments, a concern that caught the attention of New Mexico’s congressional delegates.

“Our offices have received reports that Bosley has repeatedly attempted to lie and intimidate low-income residents … in order to try to illegally evict them from the property,” U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, wrote in a letter Thursday.

They addressed the letter to the Cabinet secretary and inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture; they also sent it to New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies.

The letter accused Bosley of a pattern of mismanaging properties enrolled in the USDA program, citing the closure in November of the Santa Clara Apartments in Española — also owned by Bosley — due to unsafe conditions. La Vista Del Rio “suffers from similar poor conditions,” in violation of USDA requirements, the letter said.

In March, the federal agency ordered Bosley to keep La Vista Del Rio open after all residents received a two-week eviction notice that housing advocates called illegal. The agency’s rules prohibit eviction without 180 days of notice.

But residents said management again threatened to evict them last week.

“We request your offices take immediate action to protect the residents of LVDR from displacement,” the congressional delegates’ letter said, urging USDA to “take appropriate administrative and/or criminal action against Bosley for its conduct.”