ADU Pass
Santa Fe
Santa Fe County portion
Also in: No County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, New Mexico navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 6 ZIP codes.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: unclear
New Mexico leaves ADU regulation to local municipalities under home-rule or Dillon-rule authority. Santa Fe permits ADUs subject to local conditions per its zoning ordinance.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 150 | $1,700 | $44,250 | $45,950 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,700 | $177,000 | $178,700 |
| midpoint | 525 | $1,700 | $154,875 | $156,575 |
| maximum | 900 | $1,700 | $265,500 | $267,200 |
Fee breakdown
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental of ADU generally permitted; landlord-tenant law and any city rental-registration ordinance apply.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions STR rules vary by city. Santa Fe regulates STRs separately from ADU permitting; check local STR ordinance and HOA covenants.
- Office rental: with-restrictions Detached office rental requires home occupation permit or rezoning.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted with restrictions on signage and customer traffic.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist studio is a permitted accessory use.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Limited urban agriculture permitted in residential zones; livestock varies by district.
- Relative support: yes Family-occupancy ADU explicitly permitted in single-family zones.
Utilities
- Water: Santa Fe Water Utility · 30d connect · $4,500
- Sewer: Santa Fe Sewer / Wastewater · 30d connect · $5,500
- Electric: Santa Fe Electric Utility · 21d connect · $1,800
- Gas: Santa Fe Gas Utility · 30d connect · $1,500
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 7mo · typical 10mo · worst 16mo
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
New Mexico has no HOA-ADU preemption; HOA covenants restricting ADUs are enforceable.
Regulatory overlays (1)
- historic-district
Santa Fe historic districts trigger Architectural Review Board / Historic Preservation Commission review for ADUs in historic boundaries.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: City of Santa Fe Municipal Code — Accessory Dwelling Units, adopted 2020-01-01, last amended 2024-04-01
- 2024-01-01 — City of Santa Fe ADU code refresh (city-ordinance)
Conforming local-code amendments aligning with current New Mexico accessory-dwelling framework.
Effect: Codified permissive ADU standards consistent with state law and local zoning.
Santa Fe County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Santa Fe County (state-capital county; ~155,000 residents — north-central New Mexico; encompassing Santa Fe, Edgewood partial, the unincorporated communities of Eldorado, Cerrillos, Madrid, Galisteo, La Cienega, La Cienaguilla, Los Cerrillos, Lamy, Stanley, and a substantial fraction of the upper Rio Grande and Pecos River drainages) regulates land use in unincorporated areas through the Santa Fe County Sustainable Land Development Code (SLDC), administered by the Santa Fe County Growth Management Department. New Mexico has no statewide ADU preemption — New Mexico's stateAduLaw is netEffect 'no-statewide-law' — but New Mexico is generally a home-rule and county-zoning-permissive state under NMSA 4-37-1 et seq. The SLDC permits 'casitas' / 'accessory dwelling units' in residential and rural districts (RES-AG, RES-1, RES-2, RES-3, RR-1) by right or with administrative approval, subject to size limits (commonly 1,000 sq ft or 50% of principal dwelling), one-per-lot limit, parking, and water/wastewater capacity demonstration. The Santa Fe County Board of County Commissioners adopted the SLDC most recently in 2015 (replacing the previous Santa Fe County Land Development Code) and has updated specific sections multiple times since.
County regulatory overlays
New Mexico state — ADU law and programs
State financing programs
New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority (MFA), branded 'Housing New Mexico', is the state's quasi-public housing finance agency administering 35+ state and federal programs. As of 2026-04-26 MFA does not operate an ADU-specific homeowner loan or grant product. ADU construction or rehab can be financed indirectly through MFA's homebuyer programs (FirstHome 30-year fixed first mortgage for first-time buyers; HomeNow first mortgage with up to $7,000 down-payment / closing-cost assistance forgivable after 10 years; NextHome for non-first-time buyers with $7,000 grant) when the underlying primary-residence transaction qualifies. MFA's HERO Program (Healthcare, Education, Police/Public Safety, and 'Other' essential workers) provides reduced-rate first-mortgage financing. Several MFA Single-Family rehab programs (Energy$mart, Weatherization, HomeForward) can fund ADU-adjacent rehab work when the project meets program criteria. None of these is ADU-specific.
State housing programs
New Mexico does not operate a statewide pre-approved ADU plan catalog, statewide impact-fee waiver statute, or per-ADU rebate / incentive program as of 2026-04-26. The state's ADU programmatic posture leans on (a) the New Mexico Housing Trust Fund administered by MFA — funding affordable housing development including some ADU-style infill — and (b) the OSI's $10M wildfire-mitigation grant program for FAIR Plan-eligible structures, which can support hardening measures on ADUs in WUI areas. Governor Lujan Grisham's 2025-2026 housing initiative has emphasized infill and missing-middle (HB 17 pending in 2026); the Office of Housing within the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration coordinates state-level housing policy across MFA, OSI, and DFA. Locally, City of Albuquerque operates an ADU promotion microsite (https://www.cabq.gov/planning/accessory-dwelling-unit) and Santa Fe County maintains a comprehensive ADU permit checklist; neither is a state program.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.
ZIP Codes
- 87501
- 87505
- 87506
- 87507
- 87508
- 87540
Post Office
- 120 S Federal Pl Ste 101, 87501
- 2071 S Pacheco St, 87505
Locale Names
- Coronado