With evictions rising to pre-pandemic levels, Santa Fe commits $1 million to help renters facing eviction

Sep. 27—Santa Fe's city government is launching an initiative to provide direct cash assistance to tenants facing eviction.

Mayor Alan Webber and several city department heads joined tenant organizers from the local group Chainbreaker Collective on Wednesday to announce the program, which is expected to give $1 million to renters in need throughout the city.

"We are simply dealing with an inadequate supply of affordable and workforce housing," Webber said, adding the program helps to create a community "where we keep people from ending up on the streets."

The program is a continuation of one that began after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which the city gave about $5 million of federal CARES Act money in direct cash payments to help prevent Santa Feans from being evicted.

This time, however, the money will come from the city's general fund, which is funded largely through gross receipts tax revenue.

The funds are expected to provide payments of $3,000 to 333 households in Santa Fe.

There are eligibility requirements for tenants to receive the cash, said city's Youth and Family Services Division Director Julie Sanchez. Applicants must live within Santa Fe city limits and be 18 years old or older. They also must meet one of various requirements, including being in any stage of the eviction process, receiving verbal demands for rent payment from a landlord or meeting the state's definition of indigency.

The goal for turnaround time on payments, Sanchez said, will be 48 to 72 hours.

The city will distribute the money with the help of a network of resource providers and community groups that engage with renters and can direct them to a "low-barrier application process," said city Community Health and Safety Director Kyra Ochoa.

"When you find yourself in one of these situations where you need to pay a landlord immediately or be evicted, you can't wait months for an application process," Ochoa said.

While a range of other federal and local funds go into housing assistance, she said the program represents a commitment from the city to invest in "immediate solutions for people in immediate need."

Ochoa expressed hope that the mayor and City Council will continue to budget funds for eviction prevention going forward.

"It's a multi-pronged approach: keep people in their homes, build more homes and give [people] that immediate help that they need — not only because we have federal funds, but because we as a city recognize that's a really important commitment that we can grow from our own tax base," she said.

Evictions in Santa Fe County appear to continue their climb back up to pre-pandemic levels since federal and statewide eviction moratoriums ran out in 2022.

So far, in September, the Santa Fe County court has seen 66 filings for rent restitution, which begins a legal process that can — but doesn't always — lead to evictions. The number is higher than the 63 filings in the court in August, and significantly higher than the range of 20-30 petitions filed in each month in late 2022.

Recent city-led studies also show housing prices have risen sharply in Santa Fe in recent years, giving rise to an "affordability gap" that has caused the displacement of lower-income residents as wealthier ones move in.

Two residents from Las Palomas Apartments — which sits in the city's Hopewell Mann neighborhood — appeared Wednesday with Chainbreaker Collective, describing rising rents alongside persistent problems with cockroaches and bedbugs. They said the collective has helped them and their neighbors understand their rights as renters and to organize fellow tenants who face the same struggles.

In August, Monarch Properties, which owns the apartment complex, filed 15 petitions for restitution in one day, potentially spurring evictions for more households at once than it had during any other month this year.

"This money would mean I could have an affordable apartment with reasonable accommodations," one of the women said.