When Elena moved to Santa Fe six years ago with her young son, she knew she wanted to work in the public school system. As a bilingual speech and language pathologist, Elena knew she could have gotten a higher-paying job at a clinic or hospital, but she has always been passionate about public education and wanted to work with special-needs students to advocate for and help them improve their communication skills. We need people like Elena in our community to provide care and education for our youth. For our future generation.

But it’s no secret that Santa Fe, like much of the country, is experiencing an affordable housing crisis. As a single parent with a modest income, Elena couldn’t afford to buy a home. In fact, she and her son had a hard time finding stable and affordable housing, moving seven times over five years and doing everything from sharing space with other people to house-sitting.

I’ve heard countless stories like Elena’s — people who are central to educating our children, keeping our city safe and caring for our families when they’re sick, just to name a few — who cannot find stable, affordable housing much less buy a home and enjoy all the wealth-building benefits that come with it. We’ve all seen the eye-popping headlines about rising home prices that were once unthinkable for our city, but I worry we don’t stop often enough to consider the real people impacted by this crisis.

That’s why the city of Santa Fe’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund is vital — it’s a critical source of funding that supports the construction and renovation of affordable units across the city. In November, Santa Fe voters will have the opportunity to pass a proposal to secure a consistent funding stream for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund that will support housing solutions for generations to come.

When we don’t have enough affordable housing, essential workers and our most vulnerable neighbors suffer the most — everyone from teachers, police officers, nurses and hotel clerks to single moms and single dads trying to make ends meet. And while there’s no silver bullet to ending our affordability crisis, we must take every opportunity to increase the city’s supply of affordable housing and help families purchase those homes.

Let me illustrate why creating a dependable funding stream is necessary. My organization, Homewise, recently renovated a former Airbnb property called Casa Pacifica, converting the units into affordable housing that will be sold to households with various incomes. Thanks to funding from a generous private donor and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, we’re able to offer a teacher who makes an annual salary of $50,000 a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit priced at $209,750 — a third of the market value price of $620,000. Or, imagine a server who makes $32,800, which is the average in New Mexico. They could afford a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit at $141,250, which is 40% of its market value of $350,000.

For Homewise and other incredible partners throughout the city that are creating affordable housing projects like these, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund is key. Without it, we risk deepening our homeownership crisis, pricing out communities that make us stronger, widening an already unacceptable racial wealth gap, and worsening our climate footprint by forcing our workforce to commute from Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation about the proposal to make this funding for affordable housing possible in the long term. The ballot measure Santa Fe voters will consider would create a 3% excise tax on new home sales exceeding $1 million — but only on the amount above $1 million. For example, the buyer of a $1.5 million home would pay $15,000, which is 3% of $500,000. By contrast, the Realtor’s commission on the same property would be $90,000.

Families like Elena’s are why our city is so vibrant, and if we don’t do everything in our power to address the housing crisis, we risk making Santa Fe permanently unaffordable to her and many families like hers. I urge Santa Fe voters not only to pass this proposal, but to get involved by attending town halls, talking to their friends and neighbors, and making their voices heard in community decision-making to build more affordable housing. Together, we can make our city a place that welcomes everyone.