NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – With a push to make affordable housing more available, a new program aimed at rehabbing old homes and turning them into rentals has launched. One nonprofit is already rolling out their first success with the program. The Rehab2Rental was approved by Housing New Mexico, also kn own as MFA, back in February.  On Friday, one of the early recipients opened its first home using the funding. “There's a shortage of both single-family homes for sale and rental units for rental. So with this program, the intent is to revitalize some existing stock and make it available for rentals,” said Dan Jennings, a county coordinator with 100% Chaves County. Housing New Mexico launches program aiming to increase affordable housing The program by Housing New Mexico would give landlords a $25,000 forgivable loan to fix up old, run-down houses, turning them into affordable rental homes that would be used for tenant-based housing vouchers. In Chaves County, the owner of the home worked with the organizations 100% Chaves County and Hagerman Forward to help ring in the program, saying having something like this helps more than just the homeowner. “We feel it helps stabilize neighborhoods, taking a vacant house and turning it into a house that can be safe and habitable. We feel that it's good for the property owner because now we have another property owner who can be in the system and rent houses at an affordable rent. And we feel it's great for the families that can now have a voucher,” said the Executive Director and CEO of Housing New Mexico. Housing New Mexico says the program is not just limited to Chaves County and is open to other landlords across the state.   For more information on the Rehab2Rental program, you can follow the link here. ...read more read less