Reimagining Albuquerque

If you drive up to Rio Rancho or down toward Valencia County, you’ll see something Albuquerque should be seeing: homes going up, families putting down roots, and communities growing. But while the metro area population continues to rise — now 926,303 strong, according to the latest Census estimates — Bernalillo County is slowly shrinking. Why? Because Albuquerque is making it harder and harder to build homes.

Where growth goes when we say ‘no’

Homebuilders aren’t guessing. They go where they’re welcome — and where projects pencil out. In Rio Rancho, building permits outpace Albuquerque’s by a wide margin. Builders like Abrazo Homes report that Rio Rancho has had more permit activity in the past few years than the entire city of Albuquerque. Co-owner Mackenzie Bishop credits that to Rio Rancho’s land availability, demand for more homes, and city leadership. “The City of Albuquerque has more of an anti-development and anti-new housing disposition where I would say in contrast the City of Rio Rancho is much more pro-growth,” he said. That’s not by accident; it’s by design. Rio Rancho’s city leadership has been actively pro-growth, welcoming new development. Albuquerque, on the other hand, has allowed restrictive zoning, parking mandates, and outdated building codes to turn away projects and drive up costs. Though much of the construction in Rio Rancho is unsustainable sprawl, our reluctance to make it easy to build infill hasn’t helped Albuquerque.

The numbers make it clear: between 2020 and 2024, Sandoval County added nearly 9,000 people. Valencia County grew by over 4,600. Meanwhile, Bernalillo County lost nearly 5,000 residents. Our policies are pushing growth to the edges, and we’re losing people, tax base, and opportunity as a result.

The hidden costs of sprawl

Local examples, such as the recent multi-million dollar shortfall for road maintenance and delayed infrastructure repairs reported in city budget hearings, make these costs more tangible for residents. It also provokes difficult decisions on city projects, as we saw at a recent meeting of the City Council’s Committee of the Whole.

It might feel safe to push new development out of established neighborhoods, but we’re paying for that decision every day. Long commutes mean more congestion, more pollution, and higher transportation costs for families. The farther we build from the urban core, the more expensive it is to provide infrastructure and city services. Every mile of new road, every extension of water and sewer lines, becomes a long-term liability — one that Albuquerque taxpayers will ultimately shoulder.

This growth pattern weakens our urban core. Schools see declining enrollment. Small businesses struggle with fewer nearby customers. City budgets are strained trying to maintain sprawling infrastructure while inner neighborhoods deteriorate. We pay with our wallets, our time, and our quality of life. Recent wildfires surrounding Los Angeles also point to the very real danger of our current process of building.

What Albuquerque can do differently

The good news is that these problems are fixable — if we are willing to make changes. Recent efforts, like O-24-69, represent a massive step forward that can hopefully help close the gap in coming years. But we still need to think more broadly about our development approach, reinvest in all of our neighborhoods, and consider how to strengthen our local tax base—especially in a time of increasing federal hostility to traditional granting mechanisms.

Many of the changes of O-24-69, such as legalizing multiplexes, should be welcome on all residential lots in Albuquerque as another good next step.

There are other important policy changes that cities across the country have implemented to modernize their policies to welcome smart growth. Albuquerque can too. Here’s how:

• Abolish parking minimums: Parking mandates make projects more expensive and take up valuable land that could be used for housing or businesses. Removing them helps unlock new development. Will parking disappear? Largely, no. However, arbitrary requirements will be replaced by market demand, letting developers, business owners, and residents make decisions about what parking they actually need.
• Expand ART and build around transit: We’ve invested in ART. Now let’s leverage it by encouraging denser, walkable development along the corridor. Better yet, we need MORE ART. Let’s connect our important nodes of activity and leverage them for sustainable growth.
• Reduce minimum lot sizes and allow smaller homes and townhomes: The city’s outdated rules make it hard to build anything other than large single-family homes. We need housing options under 1,000 square feet and more attached housing types.
• Stop treating multifamily as commercial construction: Multifamily homes are residential — and they should be regulated and permitted that way. It’s a simple change that can lower costs and make projects viable.
• Legalize single-stair buildings: Cities that have embraced single-stair buildings are seeing more small-scale, affordable apartment buildings that blend into neighborhoods.

According to recent demographic data, the Albuquerque area has seen net outmigration among younger adults in particular. Anecdotally, many recent high school and college graduates express frustration at not being able to find affordable housing or starter homes near job centers. The New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee has highlighted that young professionals are migrating to other areas, and this feels especially true to many of us who know friends and family leaving for cities like Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and Denver.

Every year, more young people leave Albuquerque because they can’t find affordable housing here. Families who want to stay are priced out of the neighborhoods they grew up in. If we don’t make it easier to build homes inside the city, we’ll keep pushing the next generation to the fringes — or out of state entirely. This isn’t just policy failure; it’s losing neighbors, friends, and family who want to stay but can’t find a place to put down roots. We need to create a city where young people can see a future and feel like they belong.

It’s not too late

Bernalillo County and Albuquerque can turn this around. But we need political courage and public pressure to change course. Smart, intentional policies can make our city more affordable, more vibrant, and more equitable.

Growth is happening. The question is whether Albuquerque will welcome it — or continue to pay the price for pushing it away.

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/albuquerque-metro/new-home-builders-trying-to-help-buyers-amid-cost-escalation/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJGfUdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQVgxgtephiv4doUY8CumxxMTLq1pra9uC7oBeQmuUfiwVBxlebzt-E4oQ_aem_EJxivNqsY7qhvUmahCHASQ

“New Mexico is losing young people and professionals, Census data shows” — Albuquerque Journal (https://www.abqjournal.com/2657087/new-mexico-is-losing-young-people-and-professionals-census-data-shows.html)

“Policy Spotlight — State Population Trends” — New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee (https://www.nmlegis.gov/Entity/LFC/Documents/Program_Evaluation_Reports/Policy%20Spotlight%20-%20State%20Population%20Trends.pdf).