RR is Planning to Develop 100 Units of Workforce Housing for Local Employees in Response to a Dearth of Affordable Housing Affecting All of Taos County and Many Other Parts of New Mexico.
In February 2021, the town began working with a developer to either renovate a pre-existing workforce housing complex or build something entirely new. They decided to leave the housing units as they were and looked elsewhere for a place to erect a new development. According to Red River Mayor Linda Calhoun, while the town already had workforce housing units built in 2018, more were needed.
“Red River, like every other community in the entire county, state and country right now, we don’t have housing for our employees that [work] here,” Calhoun said.
Recently, the Town of Taos secured a $1 million grant from the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) to build five housing units in the Chamisa Verde subdivision. Both Taos County and the Town of Taos are working with Taos Housing Partnership to develop additional affordable housing.
In 2021, Calhoun appointed a workforce housing task force to spearhead the project. The committee began by assessing the need for such a project by surveying local residents and workers. Questions on the survey focused on assessing the size of the local workforce, including how many of them were students on a J-1 visa. The survey asked how many workers were living in other areas and commuting to Red River on a daily basis and how many of them would like to live in Red River if it had affordable housing to accommodate them.
According to Michael
Calhoun, a member of the workforce housing taskforce and owner of the Red River Brewing and Distilling Company, the survey was sent to employees and employers in Red River. The results found that the housing deficit in Red River amounts to 502 individual employees, not including dependents or their families. Of this number, 276 respondents said they would like to live in Red River, closer to work, if it were less expensive.
Employers who responded to the survey gave numbers of employees they would hire if there was available housing. According to the results, there are 226 vacancies because of the lack of housing in Red River.
Calhoun explained that a high percentage of survey respondents said they were commuting to Red River from Questa, Taos, Amalia, Costilla, Angel Fire and even Colorado. He noted that such a massive commute to Red River must have an impact on the environment, something that could be avoided if the housing in
Red River matched the workforce.
Based on the results of their research, they determined the development should contain around 100 workforce housing units. Calhoun said they might include four-bedroom units with a common area for international students arriving on a J-1 visa. They are also considering building one- or two-bedroom townhouse units to sell with deed restrictions in place to deter flipping the properties for profit.
The town settled on a helipad constructed around 2008 that is now essentially derelict, since most local pilots have retired and EMS transports leave from Questa. Calhoun said the pad has since been decommissioned, and they plan on using the site for the new housing project. They are currently doing core samples on the property. She added that the plan is to include lots of green space, maybe a workout area and outdoor walkways.
“The new people will be proud to live there,” she said.
The next step, Calhoun said, is finding funding, and they plan on meeting with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office later this year to identify possible grants. Calhoun said the projected cost of the affordable housing endeavor will be around $32 million.
Calhoun said she noticed the need for workforce housing, not just from people throughout the town, but also through her own real estate business. She said she cannot find employees to work for her at the moment, and she believes the lack of affordable housing is a primary reason.
“People that would love to come cannot find a place to live,” Calhoun said. “I talked to somebody [recently] who has purchased a business in town. He was trying to find a place for a couple of years until he could maybe build or buy something. There’s nothing.”
In 2018, Red River secured funding from then-Governor Susana Martinez to purchase two hotels in Red River in order to convert them into workforce housing complexes. The renovation provided the town with 33 individual housing units, most of which were two-bedroom apartments, along with a handful of three-bedroom units. Calhoun said these helped them house marshals and local educators.
“It’s worked, but we need more,” Calhoun said about the 2018 housing project.
The current project is still in preliminary phases, and Calhoun said it’s still too soon to estimate when it will
begin.