Governor Bill Richardson Announces Six Affordable Housing

							      For Immediate Release                                          Contact: Leann Holt
        January 12, 2010                                               (505) 767-2254


    Governor Bill Richardson Announces Six Affordable Housing
        Projects To Create New Homes Across New Mexico

   Projects are Expected to Create or Retain More Than 800 Construction Jobs

ALBUQUERQUE – Governor Bill Richardson today helped break ground on a stimulus funded
affordable housing project at NewLife Homes on Albuquerque’s Westside. Additionally,
Governor Richardson announced that three additional affordable housing projects across New
Mexico will break ground this month and that two others will begin construction soon thanks to
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Tax Credit Exchange Program.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has allocated more than $47 million to the New Mexico
Mortgage Finance Authority for the program to distribute throughout urban and rural New
Mexico. The affordable housing projects, located in Hatch, Anthony, Santa Fe and Albuquerque,
will create 372 new and rehabilitated rental apartments for seniors, low-income families and
New Mexicans with physical and mental disabilities. The projects are expected to create or save
815 construction jobs, and 28 permanent jobs.

“When the national economy stalled, so did these important affordable housing projects,”
Governor Richardson said. “I am pleased that through the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act they will now finally get off the ground. This is good news for New Mexico, since these
projects will create new housing options for New Mexicans in need and hundreds of jobs for our
state’s construction industry.”

The NewLife Homes project is a $7.7 million complex that will house 48 very-low income
individuals with mental and physical disabilities, some of whom are transitioning out of
homelessness. The Mortgage Finance Authority is funding 75 percent of the construction
through the Tax Credit Exchange Program. The City of Albuquerque and other partners are also
contributing to the project.

“The project would not have happened without the help and support of MFA and the new U.S.
Treasury-funded program,” said John Bloomfield, executive director of NewLife Homes. “We
are so grateful that we can move forward and provide housing for this very vulnerable group of
New Mexicans.”
The table below lists the projects that have received funding through MFA’s Tax Credit
Exchange Program.

                                                                                          Estimated       Estimated 
                            Location                              Proposed 
                                                                                Number    Construction    Permanent 
   Project                                                          Credit 
                                                 Developer                       of          Jobs           Jobs 
   Name                                                           Exchange 
                    City            County                                      Units      Created/       Created/ 
                                                                    Value 
                                                                                           Retained       Retained 
 Falcon         Hatch             Doña Ana      JL Gray           $6,976,074        72           165              3
 Ridge                                          Company 
 New Life       Albuquerque       Bernalillo    New Life          $5,797,789        48            100            10
 Homes                                          Homes, Inc. 
 The Village    Santa Fe          Santa Fe      Santa Fe          $8,872,429        60             85             4
 Sage                                           Community 
                                                Housing Trust 
 Sawmill      Albuquerque         Bernalillo    Sawmill           $7,354,176        46            150             4
 Senior                                         Community 
 Housing                                        Land Trust 
 Cimarron II  Anthony             Doña Ana      JL Gray           $9,525,110        84            165             3
 Apartments                                     Company 
 The Artisan  Albuquerque         Bernalillo    Sawmill           $9,251,591        62            150             4
 at Sawmill                                     Community 
 Village                                        Land Trust/ 
                                                Pacificap 
                                                Properties 
                              Total                              $47,777,169       372            815            28


The New Mexico State Legislature established the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority
(MFA) in 1975 to help provide safe, decent affordable housing for low-and moderate-income
New Mexicans. The MFA fulfills its legislative mandate by financing single-family and
multifamily mortgages through the issuance of mortgage revenue bonds and the administration
of state and federal housing programs. As a quasi-governmental agency, the MFA is self-
supporting.


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