Project to add 72 townhomes to ABQ's Westside

As Albuquerque is trying to address its affordable housing crisis, it might get some relief with the Thursday groundbreaking of the Sombra del Oeste townhome project that will “meet the needs of first-time homebuyers” and looks to add 72 units by 2026.

The townhomes will be made up of 55 three-bedroom and 17 two-bedroom units. The units will be built by Abrazo Homes and the first homes are expected for sale by June 2026. The townhomes will also be an all-electric development, which means all electric appliances and residents can opt to have solar panels added to the homes.

The groundbreaking, followed by a roundtable discussion, was hosted by Homewise, a statewide mortgage lender with the goal of helping people become homeowners by offering “homebuyer education” and “individualized financial coaching.”

Mike Loftin, CEO of Homewise, said units on the lower end will start at $140,000 and that some will be at market rate.

“We’ll have a range of affordability because we want to help the whole spectrum of the workforce,” Loftin said.

The added housing units come at a time when affordable housing and homelessness are central issues locally. According to the city’s estimates, it needs to add 15,500 new housing units for people making less than 30% of the local median income.

“You get to that number one home at a time. So 72 is an addition we just did 16 townhomes in Downtown Albuquerque. We do a bunch of homes, about a dozen homes a year, where we’re rehabbing abandoned, vacant properties, homes, and then helping to rehab them, get owner-occupants in them,” Loftin said.

Loftin added that the company plans to ramp up its production in Albuquerque as the city has become “so unaffordable.”

“We appreciate Homewise and their partners for all their work to make homeownership a reality for more folks in Albuquerque,” Staci Drangmeister a spokesperson for Mayor Tim Keller said in a statement. The city’s Director of Cultural Services Shelle VanEtten de Sanchez is on the board of directors for Homewise.

The homes will be built in Southwest Albuquerque, right next to the Solare Collegiate Charter Middle School, where the roundtable discussion took place. Around a dozen students took part in the discussion.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez — who represents the area where the townhomes are being built — was in attendance for the groundbreaking. He spoke to students about his childhood and how important it was for him growing up to live near his middle school when he was in Indiana.

“I think housing is such an important part of the equation when it comes to lifting up New Mexican families, and it’s one of the things not often talked about when we talk about economic development and improving and supporting our economy,” Vasquez told the Journal. “I look at communities like Carlsbad and Hobbs and also Las Cruces and Albuquerque, and one of the common threads is the housing shortage and affordable housing.”

The visit comes while Vasquez is in a close race with Republican challenger Yvette Herrell to hold on to his 2nd Congressional District seat. He was elected to office in 2022 beating then incumbent Herrell by just over 1,000 votes.

“I’ll put it this way; I’m on the side of the home buyers Yvette Herrell is on the side of the developers,” he said. “That’s something that’s actually been clear since her track record in the legislature when she gave a $500,000 contract to her own family.”

In 2018 an Associated Press investigation found that while Herrell was serving as a state lawmaker, her family’s company, Herrell Properties, made $440,000 over the span of five years by renting property to the state Taxation and Revenue Department and state Environment Department and did not disclose the earnings on ethics disclosures.

“For Gabe Vasquez to attack Yvette Herrell for being on the side of developers while literally at an event with a developer is the height of political hypocrisy. Yvette fully supports affordable housing projects and the developers who are obviously critical to their construction,” Paul Smith a spokesperson for Herrell said in a statement. “Further, Gabe’s desperate attack on Yvette’s family is a recycled and debunked lie. Before Yvette became a state representative, her father purchased two buildings that the state was already leasing via the Motors Vehicles Division and the Environment Department. Yvette did not secure any state contracts for her family’s company as a state legislator.”

The most recent Journal poll shows Vasquez retains a slim lead in the race.