OPINION: Breaking the cycle: A data-driven plan to close Albuquerque's wealth gap

Albuquerque is at a crossroads. Despite investing over $10 billion in poverty programs statewide, New Mexico has the nation's highest poverty rate at 17.6%. In our city, more than half of Black and Latino renters pay over 30% of their income on housing. We're spending money but we're not solving the problem.

The question isn't whether we have the resources. It's whether we have the political courage to redirect them.

The real problem: structural traps

Research from the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee reveals a stunning paradox: When a married couple with two children earns an additional $30,000 in wages, they can lose over $29,000 in benefits, netting just $378 in actual gain. This "cliff effect" doesn't encourage work, it punishes it.

Meanwhile, Albuquerque dedicates 32% of our $1.5 billion budget to public safety while allocating just 13% to human and family development and 2% to affordable housing. We're managing poverty's symptoms, not addressing its causes.

Housing: The foundation of wealth

Homeownership remains America's primary wealth-building tool, making our housing crisis a wealth crisis. The Urban Institute found that Albuquerque has a shortage of 15,500 rental units affordable to extremely low-income households. Nearly 3,000 subsidized units will lose affordability protections by 2025 without intervention.

This isn't abstract policy, it's generational theft. Research from the Moving to Opportunity study shows children who move to lower-poverty neighborhoods before age 13 earn 31% more as adults. Each year of stable childhood housing compounds these benefits.

What we must do:

• Expand the Workforce Housing Trust Fund from $5 million to $50 million by redirecting 5% of the public safety budget and implementing progressive property taxes on luxury properties.

• Implement "right of first refusal" policies allowing nonprofit developers to acquire expiring affordable housing before private conversion.

• Prohibit source-of-income discrimination to prevent landlords from refusing Housing Choice Voucher holders; Maryland and Virginia passed similar laws this year.

Fixing the cliff effect

Our benefit structure creates a wage plateau where households see virtually no income increase between $30,000 and $60,000 in earnings. This affects real decisions: whether to accept promotions, work full-time or pursue education.

Solutions: Implement gradual benefit phase-outs instead of sharp cutoffs — reduce benefits by 25 cents per dollar earned rather than eliminating programs at once. Raise asset limits to allow emergency savings. Connect benefits to workforce training and education programs.

The budget reality

This isn't about raising taxes, it's about redirecting resources toward solutions that work. Every dollar spent on supportive housing can save as much as $2 in emergency services and incarceration costs.

PolicyLink estimated that Albuquerque's metro economy would have been $11 billion larger in 2015 absent racial income inequities. We're not just helping struggling families, we're unleashing economic growth benefiting everyone.

The path forward

The Albuquerque City Council will vote on the FY2027 budget in May 2026. Between now and then, we need community members testifying at budget hearings, nonprofit leaders endorsing this framework and data-driven advocacy countering "tough on crime" rhetoric with evidence.

The resources exist. The research is clear. What we need is political will to make generational change rather than manage decline.

Albuquerque can show that addressing inequality isn't charity, it's building an economy that works for everyone. The question is whether we'll seize this moment or let another generation grow up in a city that talks about equity while budgeting for inequality.

The choice is ours.

Jonah Bearden is a University of New Mexico student studying marketing and public policy, with a focus on housing affordability.