N.M. Stat. § 3-45-3 (2026)

The following terms, wherever used or referred to in the Municipal Housing Law,
shall have the following respective meanings:

   A. "city" means any municipality and, unless the context otherwise clearly indicates,
any county. "The city" means the particular city or county for which a particular housing
authority is created. "County" means any county;

   B. "governing body" means, in the case of a city, the council or board of
commissioners and, in the case of other state public bodies, the council,
commissioners, board or other body having charge of the fiscal affairs of the state public
body;

   C. "mayor" means the mayor of the city or the officer charged with the duties
customarily imposed on the mayor or executive head of a city. In the case of a county,
the term "mayor" means the board of county commissioners;

   D. "clerk" means the city recorder, the county clerk or the officer charged with the
duties customarily imposed on the clerk;

    E. "area of operation" includes all of the city or, in the case of a county, includes all
of the county, except the area shall not include any area that lies within the boundaries
of any city that has an established housing authority or housing agency without the
consent of the city. Upon approval by the governing bodies of the cities involved, the
area of operation of one city pursuant to the Municipal Housing Law may be enlarged to
include the area within the boundaries of any other city. Any subsequent withdrawal of
consent of a city for operation within its boundaries by another city shall not prohibit the
development and operation of any housing projects initiated in the city by another city
prior to the date of withdrawal;

    F. "authority" or "housing authority" means any agency or other instrumentality of a
city or a separate public body politic and corporate created pursuant to the Municipal
Housing Law;

    G. "state public body" means any county, municipal corporation, commission,
district, authority, including a housing authority that is a separate body politic, other
subdivision or public body of the state;

   H. "federal government" includes the United States of America, the federal
department of housing and urban development or any other agency or instrumentality,
corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America;
    I. "slum" means any area where dwellings predominate that by reason of
dilapidation, overcrowding, lack of ventilation, light or sanitary facilities or any
combination of these factors, are detrimental to the safety, health or well-being of the
occupants or to surrounding properties;

   J. "housing project" means any work or undertaking of the city:

       (1)    to demolish, clear or remove buildings from any slum area. The work or
undertaking may embrace the adaptation of the area to public purposes, including parks
or other recreational or community purposes;

       (2)     to provide decent, safe and sanitary dwellings, apartments, single-family
dwellings or other affordable living accommodations for persons of low and moderate
income. The work or undertaking may include buildings, land, equipment, facilities and
other real or personal property for necessary convenient or desirable appurtenances,
streets, sewers, water service, parks, site preparation, gardening, administrative,
community, health, recreational, welfare or other purposes; or

       (3)    to accomplish a combination of the foregoing.

   The term "housing project" also may be applied to the planning of the buildings and
improvements, the acquisition of property or existing structures, the demolition of
existing structures, the construction, reconstruction, alteration and repair of the
improvements and all other work in connection therewith;

   K. "low-income person" means any individual, couple or family whose gross income
does not exceed eighty percent of that person's particular area median income and who
cannot afford to pay more than thirty-five percent of gross annual income for housing
rent or mortgage payments or a "low-income person" as defined by the federal
government;

    L. "bonds" means any bonds, notes, interim certificates, debentures or other
obligations issued pursuant to the Municipal Housing Law;

   M. "real property" includes all lands, including improvements and fixtures on the
lands and property of any nature appurtenant to the lands or used in connection with the
lands, and every estate, interest and right, legal or equitable, therein, including terms for
years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage or otherwise and the indebtedness
secured by such liens;

    N. "obligee" includes any holder of bonds issued pursuant to the Municipal Housing
Law, trustees for any such bondholders, or lessor demising to a city property used in
connection with a housing project, or any assignee or assignees of the lessor's interest
or any part of the lessor's interest and the federal government when it is a party to any
contract with a city in regard to a housing project;
    O. "affordable housing" means any housing accommodations that serve the needs
of low- and moderate-income persons;

   P. "affordable housing program" means an ongoing delivery system of affordable
housing services that assists persons of low and moderate income;

   Q. "moderate-income person" means any individual, couple or family whose gross
annual income is not less than eighty percent of that person's particular area median
income and does not exceed one hundred twenty percent of that area median income;

    R. "multi-jursidictional housing authority" means two or more housing authorities
joined or cooperating for the purposes of consolidating administrative duties and
obligations and providing more effective and efficient housing projects and programs
within their jurisdictions; and

   S. "immediate family member" means:

       (1)    a spouse, including a former spouse, a de facto spouse or a former de
facto spouse;

       (2)     a child or an adult child, including an adopted child, a step-child or an ex-
nuptial child;

       (3)    a parent or a step-parent;

       (4)    a grandparent;

       (5)    a grandchild;

       (6)    a sibling or a step-sibling;

       (7)    a first cousin;

       (8)    an aunt or an uncle;

       (9)    a father-in-law or a mother-in-law;

       (10)   a sister-in-law or a brother-in-law; and

       (11)   any other relative who is financially supported.

History: 1953 Comp., § 14-46-3, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300; 1989, ch. 50, § 1;
2009, ch. 226, § 3; 2014, ch. 60, § 1.

                                      ANNOTATIONS
The 2014 amendment, effective July 1, 2014, clarified the definitions of "authority",
"housing authority" and "state public body"; in Subsection F, after "instrumentality of a
city", added "or a separate public body politic and corporate"; and in Subsection G, after
"authority", added "including a housing authority that is a separate body politic".

The 2009 amendment, effective April 7, 2009, in Subsection E, after "boundaries of any
city", added "that has an established housing authority or housing agency"; in
Subsection E, in the third sentence, after "boundaries by another", deleted "county or"
and after "initiated in the city", deleted "by a county or"; in Subsection F, after
"instrumentality of a city", deleted "or county"; in Subsection H, after "America, the",
deleted "public housing administration" and added "federal department of housing and
urban development"; in Subsection I, after "health or", deleted "morals" and added "well-
being of the occupants or to surrounding properties"; in Paragraph (2) of Subsection J,
after "dwellings or other", added "affordable" and after "persons of low", added "and
moderate"; deleted former Subsection K, which defined "persons of low income"; and
added Subsections K and O through S.

The 1989 amendment, effective June 16, 1989, substituted "the Municipal Housing
Law" for "Sections 14-46-1 through 14-46-25 New Mexico Statutes Annotated, 1953
Compilation" throughout the section; in Subsection E, substituted "other city" for
"adjacent or nearby city" in the second sentence and made minor stylistic changes in
the third sentence while deleting at the end of that sentence "where there is a financial
assistance contract in existence for such project with the federal government at the date
of such withdrawal except upon such terms as may be mutually agreed upon between
the governing bodies of such cities or county, as the case may be, and the federal
government"; inserted "other instrumentality of a city" in Subsection F; in Subsection
J(2) inserted "single-family dwellings" in the first sentence; and in Subsection J(3)
inserted "or existing structures" in the second sentence.