New Mexico pours hundreds of millions of dollars into its housing crisis, while Las Cruces has spent decades building a different kind of solution, one that brings five non-profits together on city-owned land to help people find shelter, work and, eventually, a home.
Las Cruces officials created a shared campus where organizations can work alongside one another, instead of sending people from one agency to another.
The city acquired the land decades ago and turned over to local charities serving homeless people, and people experiencing housing insecurity.
Now, the five non-profits provide services ranging from emergency shelter and job assistance to medical care, free meals and early childhood education.
“We cover the breadth of the housing continuum, from homelessness to home ownership,” Natalie Green, the city’s Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization Administrator, told legislators on Tuesday.
The arrangement changed in 2025, when the organizations stopped paying rent to the city. Their rent is offset by the value of services they provide, provided those services match the market value of the property.
New Mexico’s housing problem
The Las Cruces approach came under scrutiny as lawmakers reviewed the state’s broader housing crisis.
A recent Legislative Finance Committee report found that New Mexico has spent about $524 million on housing-related efforts in recent years, while roughly 62,000 homes were built.
Yet affordability remains a problem. New developments are not always located where they are most needed, and homelessness continues to challenge communities.
Nearly half of the state’s renters are cost-burdened, spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
The report also found that state-backed programs account for only a portion of new construction and that agencies have not consistently set clear targets for measuring results.
Recently, the city moved forward in acquiring about 6.49 acres in Royal Crossing Subdivision, a future site for affordable housing for adults 55 years old and older. The acquisition was supported by almost $2.84 million in state funding.
“This investment gives Las Cruces an opportunity to secure land today for the affordable housing our community will need tomorrow,” said Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez. “By working with the State and our development partners, we can leverage public investment to bring additional resources into Las Cruces and create more housing options for our residents.”
A model for other communities?
Sen. George Muñoz, LFC vice chair, praised Las Cruces officials during Tuesday’s discussion. “Good job… You know what you want to do in your community and you’re figuring it out,” he said, before jokingly asking: “You want to move to Gallup?”
The city’s model is not a magic fix. It relies on public land, cooperation among non-profits and the ability to coordinate services under one roof.
The appeal is straightforward—bringing five groups together on one campus streamlines access, sparing residents the hassle of disconnected offices. That is the idea lawmakers are now examining as they search for practical ways to address New Mexico’s housing crisis.
