Saranam gets $733,000 grant for low-income housing project on city’s West Side

Saranam, the Albuquerque nonprofit that provides housing for low-income families, is getting a big funding boost to help construct the second phase of its West Side campus.

Housing New Mexico announced late last month that it plans to award Saranam a $732,939 grant from its Housing Innovation Program. Saranam Executive Director Tracy Weaver said the grant will help the nonprofit add 13 units to a housing project that opened in November.

Saranam has one housing center for families near Lomas and Eubank NE and has planned its West Side expansion for several years. The project, expected to be completed by spring 2025, is at the intersection of Taylor Ranch and Montano NW.

The grant is a big win for Saranam after its West Side project experienced price increases due to inflation in the years since initially purchasing the land, Weaver said.

When the nonprofit initially decided to build the family housing center, she said total costs were expected to be just over $6 million. The project cost has skyrocketed to $12.3 million in the years since. The West Side project was also recently allocated $994,950 in federal funding.

“It’s just so great," Weaver said. "Homelessness is such an issue here in Albuquerque. We know we can’t solve all the problems around homelessness, but we have a real solution for families.”

Saranam’s solution is housing a select number of families for two years in fully furnished apartment homes owned by the nonprofit, allowing them to manage their finances as they don’t have to worry about the high costs of owning a home or renting elsewhere, Weaver said. The organization also aids parents in acquiring their GED, enrolling in postsecondary education and finding suitable jobs to support their families, she added.

That model has proven successful for Saranam, which has been helping families in the Albuquerque area for more than two decades. Weaver said the success rate of its program has surpassed 77%, and the stability rate for those who’ve been out of the program for more than a year is 86%.

Weaver said the grant money will also help with a family community center, office spaces and a donation center.

“Our families are buying homes of their own. They’re finishing degrees,” Weaver said. “We are working to change the trajectory for families and generationally change the trajectory for their children so that those kids don’t grow up in poverty and homelessness.”

Housing New Mexico’s award for Saranam also comes through a new program that started last year. Kristie Garcia, a spokesperson for the housing agency, said staff evaluate and score applications from eligible applicants, like Saranam, “using specific threshold requirements and ranking criteria.” Awards come in the form of a grant or loan.

To date, the program has made nearly $7 million available to 11 projects, including others like the New Mexico Ramps Project, which builds and installs accessibility ramps throughout the state for low-income disabled residents.

In a statement, Housing New Mexico CEO and Executive Director Isidoro Hernandez praised Saranam’s work in helping low-income families, saying the recent grant “will impact even more families in the future.”

“Fortunately, through our Housing Innovation Program, we have the flexibility to fulfill funding requests such as this request from Saranam and ultimately work toward the collective goal of ending homelessness,” Hernandez said.