ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Its prime real estate in the heart of downtown Albuquerque that Bernalillo County has tried and failed to revamp. Now, a new proposal could bring new senior housing to it if lawmakers can help. The county wants $10 million in capital outlay from state lawmakers with the idea of building 60 units for seniors with low to moderate income.
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“We want to be able to give them that a quality place to call their home so we’re working to do that and transition many seniors from shelter pieces into an affordable place to live,” said Marcos Gonzales, Executive Development Officer with Bernalillo County.
Gonzales is overseeing the project and said they settled on senior housing downtown for reasons. First, there’s not much of it downtown. Second, there’s a growing older population including in shelters.
Back in 2021, the county demolished a 50-year-old historic home at the property with the hope of making it a mental health and veterans’ facility. That plan was scrapped. Gonzales says the new senior project is in the early stages. “The next step is we’re gathering additional funds from this capital outlay request then were actually thinking how we can develop this into a joint partnership with public-private partnership so we’ll have additional materials on that releasing that soon hopefully,” said Gonzales.
The county said if lawmakers grant the $10 million request, the project would be fully funded. They add the project is their top priority to get funding during this session. The county estimates around 40% of people in Albuquerque shelters right now are considered elderly with that number expected to continue to rise in the future.