There were tense moments during Monday night’s Albuquerque City Council public comment section of their meeting.
The topic on everyone’s mind, rent control.
The chamber was filled with rent control proponents, notable among them were members of the People’s Housing Project, who were peppered around the seats in yellow shirts.
Also present were many rent critics.
These two groups packed the Vincent E. Griego chamber as the council was posed to vote on M-22-5, which was a memorial that urged the New Mexico State Legislature to repeal an existing state law that prohibits local governments from enacting rent control policies.
The public comments section was filled with many individuals offering their own personal testimonials about how their rent was increased unexpectedly or how difficult it was to find affordable housing in the city.
This was an issue that had been raised earlier in the day when Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller announced a new city initiative called “Housing Forward ABQ”.
According to the City, about half of Albuquerque's renters are currently “housing cost-burdened”, which means they spend over 30% of their income on housing alone.
With rent in Albuquerque having risen 42% since March 2020 according to the Albuquerque Journal, many are facing the prospect of being priced out of housing.
Opponents of the rent control memorial said this would do more harm than good, citing an already struggling economy.
It was also said that a cap on rent would deter further housing developments in Albuquerque at a time where the city should be investing in more developments.
After about two hours of comments from both sides, the Council voted 2-7 to reject this memorial, which prompted a mix of cheers, boos and shouts of “people, no profit.”
Prior to the vote, Council Tammy Fiebelkorn, who introduced the memorial said regardless of the outcome, those who came out in support of rent control made both their presence and this issue felt.
“It’s impressive how many people show up tonight and I think that no matter how this vote goes, the People’s Housing Project has won. They wanted us to acknowledge that there is a housing crisis in Albuquerque and I think that we heard that from every single person who spoke tonight.”