A. The legislature finds and declares that there exists in the state of New Mexico a serious shortage of decent, safe and sanitary residential housing available at prices and rentals within the financial means of persons and families of low or moderate income. This shortage is severe in certain urban areas of the state, is especially critical in the rural areas and is inimical to the health, safety, welfare and prosperity of all residents of the state.

B. The legislature finds and determines that the shortage of residential housing causes overcrowding and congestion and exacerbates existing slum conditions, which, in turn, contribute substantially and increasingly to the spread of disease and crime, impair economic values, necessitate excessive and disproportionate expenditures of public funds for crime prevention and punishment, public health, welfare and safety programs, fire and accident protection and other services, substantially impair or arrest the growth of municipalities, aggravate traffic problems and promote juvenile delinquency and other social ills.

C. The legislature finds and declares further that private enterprise unaided has not been able to produce the needed construction of decent, safe and sanitary residential housing at prices and rentals that persons and families of low or moderate income can afford or to achieve the urgently needed rehabilitation of much of their present housing. It is imperative that the supply of residential housing for persons and families of low or moderate income be increased substantially and that private enterprise and investment be encouraged to sponsor, build and rehabilitate residential housing for such persons and families.

D. It is found and declared that a major cause of this housing shortage is the lack of funds in private banking channels available for affordable residential mortgages. This lack of funds has contributed to drastic reductions in construction starts of new residential housing and has frustrated the sale and purchase of existing residential housing in the state.

E. It is further found and declared that the drastic reduction in residential construction starts and in residential rehabilitation projects associated with housing shortages has caused a condition of substantial unemployment and underemployment in the construction industry, which results in hardships to many individuals and families, wastes vital human resources, increases the public assistance burdens of the state and its municipalities, impairs the security of family life, impedes the economic and physical development of municipalities and adversely affects the welfare and prosperity of all the people of the state. A stable supply of adequate funds for affordable residential mortgages is required to spur new housing starts and the rehabilitation of existing units in an orderly and sustained manner and thereby to reduce the hazards of unemployment and underemployment in the construction industry. The unaided operations of private enterprise have not met and cannot meet the need for a stable supply of adequate funds for affordable residential mortgage financing.

F. The legislature further finds and determines that for the purposes of remedying these conditions, helping to alleviate the shortage of adequate housing and encouraging and providing the financing for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation and improvement of residential housing for persons and families of low or moderate income within the state, a public body politic and corporate, separate and apart from the state, constituting a governmental instrumentality to be known as the New Mexico mortgage finance authority should be created with power to raise funds from private and public investors, to make funds available for such purposes, to create and implement programs from time to time as may be necessary or appropriate to accomplish its purposes and to assist, administer, finance or service housing programs for or through private and nonprofit organizations and local, state, federal and tribal agencies or their instrumentalities. The legislature finds and declares further that in accomplishing these purposes, the New Mexico mortgage finance authority is acting in all respects for the benefit of the people of the state in the performance of essential public functions and is serving a valid public purpose in improving and otherwise promoting their health, welfare and prosperity, and that the enactment of the provisions set forth in the Mortgage Finance Authority Act is for a valid public purpose and is declared to be such as a matter of express legislative determination.

History: 1953 Comp., § 13-19-2, enacted by Laws 1975, ch. 303, § 2; 1995, ch. 9, § 1.

The 1995 amendment, effective June 16, 1995, inserted "or moderate" preceding "income" in the first sentences of Subsections A and C; inserted "affordable" preceding "residential" in the first sentence of Subsection D and in two places in Subsection E; rewrote Subsection F; and made minor stylistic changes throughout the section.