Montoya highlights affordability crisis, rising debt in Albuquerque roundtable

Laura Montoya used an Albuquerque roundtable to put New Mexico’s affordability squeeze in front of one of the state’s hardest-hit housing markets, where Albuquerque and Bernalillo County are set to receive $80 million for housing and homelessness projects. Bernalillo County, with more than 676,000 residents, is New Mexico’s most populous county, and its housing pressure now sits at the center of the affordability debate.

The numbers behind that pressure are stark. New Mexico’s 2025 Housing Needs Assessment, issued annually by the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, says the state’s rental crisis is driven primarily by a shortage of homes affordable to the lowest-income renters. In Bernalillo County, 2026 fair market rent estimates are $913 for a studio, $1,084 for a one-bedroom, $1,331 for a two-bedroom, $1,865 for a three-bedroom and $2,209 for a four-bedroom.

That strain shows up in household budgets. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data built from U.S. Census Bureau estimates show 32.60674% of Bernalillo County households were housing-burdened in 2024. A long-running county house-price index, tracked through 2025, shows housing costs have remained elevated for decades, not just during the most recent run-up. County-level affordability analysis has also pointed to debt burden as a major driver of distress, making the issue more than a rent problem alone.

The roundtable put Montoya in the middle of a policy landscape where state and local governments are already trying to blunt the damage. Albuquerque and Bernalillo County are among the biggest beneficiaries of the $120 million statewide allocation for affordable housing, homelessness reduction and public safety, money that is meant to expand housing options while easing immediate pressure on neighborhoods. For residents, that means the most concrete relief on the horizon is likely to come through housing production and homelessness spending already moving through city and county channels.

Montoya has also previously tied her affordability work to baby bonds, a proposal aimed at narrowing chronic wealth gaps over time. That points to the limits of what the treasurer can do alone: the office can push the conversation toward long-term balance-sheet repair, but the immediate stress in Bernalillo County is still being driven by rent, home prices and debt loads that keep climbing faster than paychecks.