After Roswell, New Mexico resident Nicole Scarpa experienced her own cycle of homelessness, she vowed to give back to her community and help people avoid the evictions she came to know all too well.
While researching in her community, she noticed a swath of dilapidated and boarded-up homes. Alongside her friend, Jeneva Martinez, founder of the nonprofit Roswell Homeless Coalition, Scarpa came up with an idea.
“Bringing in new development could take years,” Martinez told Shelterforce. “But if we could do home rehabilitation, if we could work with property owners to bring them up to HUD standards, we could get some people housed.”
With a small grant, Scarpa and Martinez identified the homeowners and offered them a loan to bring the houses out of disrepair.
Sometimes, all a property needed was a new roof or an HVAC system. Then, if the owners rented the refurbished units to voucher-holders in need of housing, the loans would be fully forgiven.
Thus was born Rehab-2-Rental.
Now a statewide program, New Mexico invests $650,000 a year in offering these loans to property owners, giving them up to $25,000 per unit.
As long as a landlord rents to a housing voucher-holder for five years over a six-year period, their loan is forgiven. And, in the meantime, someone in desperate need of housing has a safe place to live.
Landlords are given financial assistance to refurbish old properties to provide more housing to those in need. Photo by Anderson Schmig on Unsplash
Landlords are also given the option to pay back the loan and rent their property out at market rates, but so far, no one has gone that direction.
Dan Jennings, executive director of the nonprofit HagermanForward, which manages the funding logistics for Rehab-2-Rental, told Shelterforce that it solves two problems in the housing market.
“There are a lot of property owners that can’t access traditional finance methods, can’t just go to the bank and get a loan against a property, because it’s not in great shape,” Jennings said.
“And there’s a lot of aging housing stock. So, it’s amazing seeing a landlord say, ‘I’m going to do this,’ and soon have a beautiful home ready for someone who may otherwise have soon been homeless.”
As the program expands, New Mexico leaders are eager to see how it can benefit both tenants and business owners while confronting the ongoing housing crisis.
“Whether it’s single-family homes or rental properties, New Mexico is in great need of affordable housing for its residents,” Housing New Mexico Executive Director and CEO Isidoro Hernandez said in a statement.
“This program is a win-win in that it will help landlords with funding to bring rentals up to standards and will provide more opportunities for affordable housing in the state.”
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A version of this article was originally published in The 2026 Home Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header image by Anderson Schmig on Unsplash
