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State and local officials broke ground Wednesday on an affordable housing project they say will benefit Las Cruces and its residents with the greatest needs.
Amador Crossing will be a 50-unit apartment building meant to quickly connect people with housing and other services. The construction cost is about $15 million. The units are one-bedroom or studio apartments.
According to the city, the primary population will be small households with needs for on-site services.
"The truth is, we let escalated prices in this country – we didn't build enough properties, and we stopped thinking about the people who need housing in a multitude of ways. Whether you're talking about veterans, you're talking about disabled adults, seniors, children, women and children, families and a growing number of folks that find housing challenges to be between them and any quality of life,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said during the event.
Lujan Grisham was among several state officials present. Lawmakers, city officials and Mesilla Valley Community of Hope officials also joined the effort. Lujan Grisham lauded them for getting the project to this point.
“I'm excited to see what you do next, and I've committed to getting you the rest of the resources for this and other projects that you do,” she said.
Amador Crossing will be located at 1101 W. Amador Avenue on city-owned land, as part of the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope campus.
Several streams of public dollars are being used to fund Amador Crossing. They are:
Amador Crossing is part of Las Cruces’ wider affordable housing effort. The city has made significant progress on other developments, including Three Sisters Apartments (70 units), Pedrena Apartments (80 units) and Peachtree Canyon Apartments (144 units).
It’s all in the service of addressing a vast need in Las Cruces.
New Mexico state Rep. Micaela Lara Cadena, D-Mesilla, speaks at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Amador Crossing housing project in Las Cruces on Jan. 8, 2025.. Lara Cadena had supported the project with discretionary capital outlay funds.
Las Cruces Bulletin photo by Algernon D'Ammassa
The city estimates that Las Cruces is about 5,600 units short of meeting demand. When the housing stock is low, the cost of rent and housing increases. Academic research shows that those factors are also major causes of crime.
“So, in an environment of higher rents, less housing supply, the city is rising to the challenge to meet an essential need,” said Mayor Eric Enriquez during the groundbreaking.
A 2024 point-in-time count, which attempts to measure the number of unhoused residents in a given area but is widely criticized as leading to undercounting, estimated that Las Cruces has about 281 residents experiencing homelessness.
"Amador Crossing will provide not only stable housing but also comprehensive on-site supportive services, including case management health care, access to mental health services, substance use treatment, job training and more,” Enriquez said.
Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez greets New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham at a groundbreaking for the Amador Crossing housing project on Jan. 8, 2025.
Las Cruces Bulletin photo by Algernon D'Ammassa
That model of support is called supportive housing. Mesilla Valley Community of Hope Executive Director Nicole Martinez said it will help get people off the streets and on their feet.
“Oftentimes, when we are meeting with people, they need extra help in getting things like IDs and birth certificates, and sometimes they have a hard time advocating for themselves or just aren't sure where to start,” Martinez said. “So being able to have those basic services as they enter a new phase in their lives, I think, is really helpful.”
The city put the contract out to bid in October. However, despite the groundbreaking, the project is not fully funded. Martinez said that they are about $2 million to $4 million short of full funding.
Officials said they hope more funding from the state will come out of the 2025 legislative session, which opens Jan. 21.
