Silver City -- Silver City residents are being asked to provide input into the town's new housing plan, which is currently in the process of being reviewed and updated, and is an important step toward addressing the shortage of affordable housing, which impedes economic vitality. Housing needs identified in the plan thus far, for example, show that some 25% of people employed in Silver City are commuting 50 miles or more to work each day, at least in part because they can't afford to live closer to their place of employment. Others say they would live in Silver City if they could afford it, and many current renters could afford to own housing if it were available.
The 2025 housing plan will guide local policies related to housing for the next decade, and it's development is being directed by Town Councilors Nicholas Prince and Stan Snider, the Planning and Zoning Commission, Assistant Town Manager Jacqui Olea, and community development staff. The town also contracted with Sites Southwest, an Albuquerque-based planning and consulting firm known for its work with municipalities, to help guide the process. Residents are asked to complete a brief, online survey by copying and pasting the following address into their internet browser: https://www.menti.com/alnbv92w1wds.
The current draft was developed through various meetings and interviews with local builders and contractors, non-profits engaged in housing issues, realtors, local business leaders, the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments, as well as public input gathered through social media. The draft plan is available online at the following address: https://silvercity.konveio.com/silver-city-strategic-housing-plan-pt-1-2. Residents may also access a hard copy by visiting the town's community development office on the second floor of the Town Hall Annex at 1203 N. Hudson Street.
The 45-page document includes an introduction with relevant demographics about Silver City, as well as a description of the current housing shortage, and the many challenges the community faces in creating more housing options. Such challenges include an aging housing stock, stagnating wages, higher construction costs, an aging population with different housing needs, and "cumbersome land development codes." Once the new housing plan is completed and approved by the town council and Housing New Mexico - also known as the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority - the next step will be to revise current zoning and land use codes, Olea explained, in order to support the new housing plan and its goals, not the least of which is addressing the shortage of worker housing, a key to local economic development.
"Like much of the state and the entire country, Silver City is facing a housing shortage, and the new housing plan is a big step toward addressing this problem," said Olea. "Once the new plan is approved, we will be moving forward with revisions to the current land use and zoning code to support opportunities to develop more housing options, such as building casitas or smaller, second units on existing housing lots, multi-unit dwellings, town homes and other types of housing. We're grateful to everyone for their input, and look forward to finalizing a housing plan that will effectively address our local housing needs, support economic development, and ensure safe and readily available housing well into the future."
Sites Southwest will also be assisting with revisions to current land use and zoning codes to support the new housing plan. Allison Long, senior planner and project manager for the firm, explained that recommended changes will help address the "missing middle," a term used by planning professionals to describe common zoning challenges, which effectively limit the types of housing that can be built in a given area.
"There are several housing types that were once more common, such as boarding houses and other smaller, multi-unit dwellings," Long explained. "Many of the types of housing that still exist in Silver City's historic downtown, for example, wouldn't be allowed today. Current zoning and land use codes, as well as financing options, really favor single family homes or large, multi-unit apartment complexes, yet there's a whole spectrum of housing types that fill different needs. That's the missing middle."
In addition to that "missing middle," new construction is limited by other challenges endemic to rural communities, Long added, such as the absence of a local housing inspector, which creates construction delays that are often compounded by supply chain issues, higher transportation costs, labor shortages, and a construction industry that is still recovering from the housing market crash of 2009.
And though part of Silver City's charm lies in its historic downtown, much of that housing stock is older and more dilapidated than in other areas, so another strategy is to create a working group to help identify and rehabilitate available vacant or dilapidated housing units, and potentially work with lenders to offer zero or low-interest loans for home repair and rehabilitation.
Other suggested strategies include building new and different types of housing to address that missing middle, such as multi-unit dwellings, mid-density apartments, duplexes and quadplexes; identifying resources to support public and private affordable housing developments; partnering with developers to build affordable housing on land owned by the town; and consideration of more home ownership options, especially in light of poverty, decades of wage stagnation, inflation and other challenges to home ownership. The issue of manufactured housing located on leased land and the insecurity that creates for residents of such communities is also addressed in the plan.
Though housing costs are lower than in many other parts of the state and throughout the U.S., 48% of renters and 19% of home owners in Silver City are cost-burdened, meaning they are spending more than 30% of their gross income on housing and utilities. Moreover, Silver City residents are more likely to be renters than other similar communities, and are paying higher rents. Currently some 68% of rentals cost more than $1,000 per month, according to the draft plan.
In terms of demographics and other local data, the draft housing plan states that Silver City, as with many New Mexico rural communities, faces a decline in industry, as well as a steady decline in local population, and assumes that this trend will continue. Additionally, nearly half of Silver City households make less than $35,000 a year, while 75% earn less than $75,000, compared to 50% of households in the country as a whole. And though the percentage of people under the age of 18 and over 65 living in poverty is on par with the rest of the state, Silver City and Grant County's poverty rate is nearly 10% higher than the rest of the country. Also, some 38% of single mothers living with children in Silver City are living below the federal poverty level.
Market research from Zillow shows that home values in Silver City have increased 56% since 2012, ending with a median value of $200,216 in 2023. That report also shows that total home listings have dropped 60% since 2018, a reflection of the lack of available housing, and the median sale price of homes in the area has risen to around $270,000 from just under $200,000 in 2019.
For more information, or to provide input into the 2025 Town of Silver City Strategic Housing Plan, please contact Jacqui Olea, Silver City assistant town manager, at (575) 534-6372 or
