Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will chair the 2025 Western Governors Association and is dedicating her term to finding solutions to a regional housing crisis. She created a concept called BRAND West, an acronym for Building Resilient and Affordable New Developments.
Laying groundwork for her efforts starts with a survey. Its seven questions seek to understand where we are today, priority issues for governors to lead on, what’s working now and how Western governors can pressure the federal government for help.
I did the survey, and you can, too (visit ), although it’s not an anonymous survey, and presumes respondents are with an “organization.â€
Here are the questions and my thoughts, edited for brevity:
How would you describe the current state of housing in the West? What data exists — or is still needed — to identify challenges and inform policy efforts focused on improving housing access?
Dire. Diminishing water resources and regional growth challenges affordable and entry-level housing.
What issues should governors prioritize to meet housing needs in communities across Western states?
Recognize water as a limiting factor for affordable housing. Recognize affordable developments must have public infrastructure, including streets, utilities, wastewater and water availability subsidized by the public sector.
What types of regulatory reforms at the state and federal levels could support the development and implementation of housing solutions?
Publicly subsidized infrastructure for affordable homes that are woven into market-rate homes needing easy money for acquisitions and development loans and loans for speculative construction.
How can specific strategies, including public-private partnerships, innovative financing models, and growth and infrastructure planning, affect access to housing?
All of the above and more are necessary for specific strategies.
Please highlight best practices and solutions that are being employed to plan for and develop housing in the West, especially those that advance a variety of housing price points and densities.
Western urban areas not fighting growth but trying to accommodate it are good models. Small markets, like ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe with progressive energy and water efficiency codes, are good models for larger urban areas. Promoting production builders, whether national or local, with cheap or free public infrastructure. Revolving funds for speculative development and home construction, coupled with down payment assistance, would explode housing production.
How could the federal government change current programs to help address gaps and barriers in housing availability and affordability? Are there new federal efforts that could assist in addressing these needs?
Get federal infrastructure money down to the subdivision micro-level, some as direct subsidies, some through easy-to-access low-interest loans. Amend the 2010 Dodd-Frank Law to ease lending rules for local banks to lend for land acquisition, land development and speculative vertical construction.
What individuals, entities or organizations would be important contributors to a successful WGA initiative? Are there specific projects or research that we should elevate or examine?
Gather thoughts and opinions from leaders of Community Development Financial Institutions scattered over communities in 22 states of the Western Governors Association.
Despite ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe’s frustration at housing not coming fast enough to slow or reverse home prices, it does good things with smart people. Three local CDFI organization leaders from Homewise, The Housing Trust and ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe Civic Housing Authority have more years of combined experience than my age, which is pushing 70.
We have the best energy and water conservation codes of any city in the region, and we waive impact fees and water purchase fees for affordable housing. We require 20% of all new homes for sale in subdivisions of more than 10 lots be sold affordable.