Abstract
In Bernalillo County, New Mexico, communities of color and people living below the poverty line are more likely to live in areas with high exposure to pollution and associated health risks. Similar trends are echoed throughout the country. These data trends and experiences form the basis for the environmental justice movement, or the movement for a clean and safe environment for all people regardless of race or class. As the science on disparate environmental impacts develops, so does the law, and regulations to control further disparate impacts in low-income communities and communities of color are being introduced and implemented in states and municipalities throughout the country. However, affordable housing for low-income New Mexicans continues to be sited in areas with high environmental risk, particularly in urban areas, and environmental regulations that aim to control additional pollution do nothing to address this issue. This Comment advocates that the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, which allocates tax credits to developers to incentivize affordable housing projects, considers environmental justice data as a factor when reviewing developers’ applications for tax credits. This seemingly small change to the Mortgage Finance Authority’s process would prioritize affordable housing developments in safer areas over those in areas with high environmental risks—a step towards more equitable access to housing in healthy communities.
Recommended Citation
Vanessa Springer,
Affordable Housing in Healthy Communities: Integrating Environmental Justice into the Application Criteria for Affordable Housing Tax Credits in New Mexico,
54
N.M. L. Rev.
621
(2024).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmlr/vol54/iss2/13
