Cheap Apartments In Otero County
New Mexico

There are 8 low income housing apartment complexes which contain 489 affordable apartments for rent in Otero County, New Mexico. Many of these rental apartments are income based housing with about 289 apartments that set rent based on your income. Often referred to as "HUD apartments", there are 0 Project-Based Section 8 subsidized apartments in Otero County. There are 246 other low income apartments that don't have rental assistance but are still considered to be affordable housing for low income families.

Housing Authorities that serve Otero County

Understanding Affordable Housing in Otero County, New Mexico

• Population And Household Demographics
• Income and Rent Overburden
• Fair Market Rents
• Area Median Income
• Low Income Housing Tax Credit
• Rental Assistance

Otero County, NM Affordable Housing Snapshot

Population and Household Demographics

Otero County is a County in New Mexico with a population of 65,318. There are 23,668 households in the county with an average household size of 2.63 persons. 35.7% of households in Otero County are renters.

Income and Rent Overburden in Otero County

The median gross income for households in Otero County is $39,775 a year, or $3,315 a month. The median rent for the county is $791 a month.

Households who pay more than thirty percent of their gross income are considered to be Rent Overburdened. In Otero County, a household making less than $2,637 a month would be considered overburdened when renting an apartment at or above the median rent. 40.91% of households who rent are overburdened in Otero County.¹

Data derived from 2010 Census and 2015 5-Year American Community Survey. Learn More.
¹ Margin of Error: ± 4.52 percentage points.

Area Median Income In Otero County

Affordable housing program eligibility is always determined by one's income. Each household's income is compared to the incomes of all other households in the area. This is accomplished through a statistic established by the government called the Area Median Income, most often referred to as AMI. The AMI is calculated and published each year by HUD.

In Otero County, HUD calculates the Area Median Income for a family of four as $54,300

Most affordable housing programs determine eligibility based on the percent of AMI a given household's income is. Among the programs that determine eligibility based on the AMI are Section 8, HOME, LIHTC, Section 515, 202 and 811.

Rental Assistance in Otero County

Rental assistance is a type of housing subsidy that pays for a portion of a renter’s monthly housing costs, including rent and tenant paid utilities. This housing assistance can come in the form of Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, project-based Section 8 contracts, public housing, USDA Rental Assistance (in Section 515 properties) as well as HUD Section 202 and 811 properties for elderly and disabled households.

Income Qualifications for Otero County HUD Rental Assistance in Otero County

You can identify apartment communities that participate in a program that provides rental assistance by looking for the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities Rental Assistance Payments Project-Based Section 8 Rural Development Rental Assistance Public Housing tags in the apartment list above. View Apartments.

Low Income Housing Tax Credits in Otero County

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program aims to create affordable rental housing for low and very low income families.

From 2001 to 2007, 5 low income apartment communities containing 202 rental apartments have been constructed and made affordable to low income persons in Otero County by the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program.

You can identify apartment communities that participate in the program in Otero County by looking for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit tag in the apartment list above. View Apartments.

If your income is less than 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI), you should not expect to pay more than the rent value for a unit in the table below. However, Affordable apartment communities that receive funding through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program may have rental units that are not subject to income and rent limits.

Rent limits for the LIHTC Program are determined so that a household making the maximum income for the expected household size of the unit would only pay 30% of their income for rent.

Income Qualifications for Low Income Housing Tax Credit Apartments in Otero County

For example, the expected household size for a two bedroom apartment is 3 people. Using the table above, the maximum income for a 3 person household at 60% of the AMI in Otero County is $29,340 a year, or $2,445 a month. To determine the maximum rent in the table below we multiply the monthly maximum income, $2,445 by 30% to get a maximum rent of $734 a month.

Rent for units in the LIHTC Program include a utility allowance which is determined by the average monthly cost of utilities paid directly by residents. This allowance has not been subtracted from the rents in the table below. These utility allowances are set on a property by property basis.

Fair Market Rents in Otero County

Fair Market Rents, often abbreviated as FMR, can be used to better understand the average housing costs of an area. Notably, Fair Market Rents are used to establish the payment standards for the Housing Choice Voucher Program, maximum rents in HOME financed rental projects and initial rents for Section 8 project based assistance.

2018 Fair Market Rents