Improve Housing, Community Development, and Quality of Place

Quality of place is economic development. The region cannot retain workers, attract families, support employers, grow tourism, or stabilize communities if housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, broadband, and amenities are not aligned with economic opportunity.

The housing section of this CEDS shows that Southeastern New Mexico has more than 132,000 housing units, but the character of that housing varies widely by county. The region includes workforce-heavy housing markets, seasonal and tourism-driven housing, aging housing stock, high vacancy in some areas, limited multi-family options, and communities where housing availability does not fully match employer demand.

Housing is therefore not only a social need. It is workforce infrastructure. It affects whether teachers, nurses, public employees, skilled trades workers, energy workers, tourism workers, military families, retirees, and young families can live and remain in the region.

County-Specific Strategic Direction

Chaves County

Chaves County should focus on workforce housing, childcare access, downtown Roswell vitality, healthcare access, redevelopment of existing housing stock, and community amenities that support family retention and regional service delivery. Because Chaves has experienced population decline and has a significant share of households earning under $50,000, housing and quality-of-place strategies should support affordability, neighborhood reinvestment, family stability, and access to higher-wage employment.

Eddy County

Eddy County should focus on housing supply connected to industrial and energy workforce demand, infrastructure that enables residential development, quality-of-life amenities in Carlsbad and Artesia, and services that help retain workers and families long term. Eddy’s strong employment base creates opportunity, but housing availability, infrastructure capacity, and community amenities must keep pace with the needs of workers, families, and employers.

Lea County

Lea County should focus on workforce and transitional housing, affordable rental options, youth and family amenities, childcare, recreation, and community development that helps retain workers beyond energy cycles. The county’s young population creates demand for schools, family services, recreation, childcare, and housing options that support long-term settlement rather than short-term workforce movement.

Lincoln County

Lincoln County should focus on senior housing, aging-in-place, wildfire recovery, tourism workforce housing, short-term rental impacts, healthcare access, broadband-enabled remote work, and year-round community livability. Because Lincoln has a high share of older adults, high homeownership, lower mobility, and a tourism-driven housing market, strategies should support both permanent residents and the workforce needed to sustain tourism, healthcare, and local services.

Otero County

Otero County should focus on housing that supports military families, civilian workers, tourism employees, young families, and residents connected to federal and defense assets. Quality-of-place strategies should include downtown Alamogordo, village-level amenities in Cloudcroft and Tularosa, childcare, healthcare, broadband, recreation, and public spaces that improve livability and support retention.

Objectives

  1. Support county and community housing strategies that align with workforce needs, population trends, employer demand, and infrastructure capacity.
  2. Advance infrastructure projects that make housing development feasible, including water, wastewater, roads, drainage, broadband, and utilities.
  3. Encourage housing types that match local needs, including workforce housing, rental housing, senior housing, starter homes, infill housing, manufactured housing improvements, and mixed-use downtown housing.
  4. Connect housing strategy with childcare, healthcare, transportation, broadband, and community amenities.
  5. Support downtown revitalization, parks, recreation, cultural assets, tourism amenities, and public spaces that improve livability and support economic development.
  6. Encourage employer participation in housing discussions where workforce availability is constrained by housing supply or affordability.

Additional Information / Partners / Programs to Leverage

Potential partners include local governments, housing authorities, New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, private developers, employers, MainStreet organizations, chambers of commerce, healthcare providers, school districts, childcare providers, community organizations, USDA Rural Development, HUD, CDBG, and State Capital Outlay. Housing and childcare should be understood as workforce supports. New Mexico has continued to make major investments in childcare access and affordability, which can support workforce participation and family stability when paired with local facility capacity, provider development, and employer awareness.