Oct. 19 -- Shortly after learning she was pregnant with twins, Emily Sutherlin and her husband decided to move from Chicago to Santa Fe so they could be closer to Sutherlin's mother, who had moved to the city when she retired.
"We realized very quickly that I needed help and that it would be great to live near family," said Sutherlin, who had two kids, ages 5 and 2, at the time.
Her husband quickly landed a job at the city Water Division.
"I kind of think, because of that, we thought it would be easy" to find a house, Sutherlin said, acknowledging the couple hadn't done much research before moving to Santa Fe.
The process of finding a house to buy took nearly two years.
The Sutherlins discovered the limited availability of homes for sale and high prices posed steep challenges.
Official and advocates widely describe the lack of affordable housing -- for both prospective homebuyers and renters -- as a housing crisis that squeezes many residents in the city. Families with young children are particularly vulnerable to being pushed out of Santa Fe.
"We do see that folks who have children are struggling more because there's more expenses," said Cathy Garcia, a spokesperson for the local nonprofit Chainbreaker Collective, an economic justice organization.
City leaders have cited two key factors as the largest barriers facing Santa Fe families: the lack of available child care and the high cost of housing.
"If you can't get an affordable home and you can't find child care ... the job can be incredible but you can't show up to work," said Bridget Dixson, president of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce.
Garcia said many low-income families choose to pay rent over other critical necessities, such as health care, out of fear of being evicted "because there is nowhere else to go."
"There is no alternative place, right?" she said. "You're moving away or you're unhoused, and what does that mean for a child?"
Home buy boosts 'quality of life'
The Sutherlins initially moved into a rental property due to the difficulty they faced purchasing a home, in part because banks were hesitant to loan to the new residents, who had not previously owned a home.
"Any savings we moved here with was just depleted in rent," Emily Sutherlin said.
The family signed a lease on a house for $2,600 monthly, and by the time they moved, it was up to $3,200, which Sutherlin said was more than double what they had paid for a place of equal size in Chicago.
When they did start looking to buy in earnest, "there just weren't any homes," she said.
She had a list of criteria for the couple's new home. One by one, she had to let go of almost all of them.
At first they were looking for homes in southeastern Santa Fe zoned for Piñon Elementary School, where her oldest daughter was a student. Because of all the new homes being built near the school, she was told her daughter couldn't be guaranteed a spot there if the family moved outside the school's zone.
The family searched for a home in the area for almost a year, Sutherlin said, but found those available for sale were too expensive.
"We really wanted a garage so I didn't have to load my kids into a cold car on winter days," she said. That went out the window, too.
The main criteria left was space: The family wanted three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and a place that was move-in ready. Counselors with the nonprofit Homewise Inc., a housing developer that also provides homebuying assistance, recommended they make an offer immediately if they saw something that fit their needs, and when something became available in the Las Acequias neighborhood in central Santa Fe, they did.
After about two years of searching, the family was finally able to buy a home.
The process wasn't perfect -- the home they selected was far less move-in ready than they were promised, and they had to live with Sutherlin's mother for about a month after the lease on their rental expired. But they were pleased with the purchase.
"It's awesome and our neighbors rock," Sutherlin said of the home, which is within walking distance of Las Acequias Park. She's looking forward to being able to walk there in the mornings with the family's new puppy.
"The quality of my life is already changing because I was able to become a homeowner, and that was a thing I didn't necessarily expect," Sutherlin said.
She said her family's situation and discussions with other people about similar experiences have opened her eyes to the challenges of living in Santa Fe, especially for families.
"You cannot rent in Santa Fe right now as a family -- unless you're making an exorbitant amount of money -- and be able to have enough savings to eventually purchase a home," she said.
'I'd say we are stuck'
According to data from the Santa Fe Association of Realtors, the median price of a home was $640,000 in the city and $825,000 in Santa Fe County in the third quarter of 2024. The average rent price for a two-bedroom apartment is $2,400, Homewise estimates show.
Housing New Mexico, a quasi-governmental agency also known as the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, found in its 2024 Housing Needs Assessment an estimated 53% of renters in Santa Fe County are considered cost burdened or "extremely" cost burdened, meaning they pay more than 30% or more than 50%, respectively, of their total income on rent.
About 34% of homeowners are cost-burdened.
Soaring home prices have prevented many residents from upsizing.
Taos native Lealia Nelson purchased what she described as a starter home with her husband after they moved to Santa Fe in 2015. The home was perfect for a couple, she said, but it's too small now that they have a 2-year-old daughter.
"I'd say we are stuck," Nelson said in an interview earlier this year. The family had considered moving but was hesitant to leave Northern New Mexico, where they have roots.
"If we stay, it will probably decide if we have another child, just because we can't fit another child into our house," she said.
The housing needs assessment from Housing New Mexico stated only 19.3% of Santa Fe County residents can afford the current median home price.
"It is super challenging" for families to live in Santa Fe, said Homewise Inc. Chief Operating Officer Elena Gonzales.
City Councilor Jamie Cassutt agreed.
"To be able to just get your foot in the door in this city is extremely hard," she said.
A native of Santa Fe who moved away for over a decade, Cassutt returned to the city with her now ex-husband to raise their son, which was possible only because of "significant" family support.
Cassutt said the local economy suffers when parents can't afford to live here. As the city seeks to diversify its economy beyond tourism, she added, it must find ways to make housing affordable for parents, who are in their prime work years.
While much of the city's gross receipts tax revenue comes from tourists, Cassutt noted it also comes from people who live in the city and make their purchases here. Commuting, she said, harms the economy.
"If we are paying people and then they're taking those dollars to somewhere else because that's where they can live, that's going to to hurt us as a city," she said.
Cassutt said a lack of affordable and attainable housing can also create a "vicious cycle" in which the city struggles to retain teachers, child care workers and health care workers, making Santa Fe even less attractive for families.
Gonzales agreed.
"It's hard to keep an employee when they're commuting two hours a day to Albuquerque," she said.