New Hampshire Deserves Better - Affordable Housing

I purchased my first home for – about - $89,000.   Granted that was 40 years ago, but I was making about $50,000 at the time and I could comfortably afford it on just my salary.

Today, the average HOUSEHOLD (usually two income earners) income in New Hampshire is about $90,000…but the average price of a home is $515,000 and on the Seacoast it’s a crazy high $831,000.   And the inventory of available homes is only about 1,000.  1,000! Across our entire state. The American Dream of owning your own home is rapidly becoming out of reach for more and more hardworking Granite Staters.

Even finding an affordable place to rent is becoming more of a challenge.  The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment across the state is $1,764 per month; in Rockingham County its $1,944. 

But here as well there are only a few units available, the vacancy rate for 2-bedroom apartments is well below 1% in most counties.

Statewide there is CURRENTLY a shortage of over 23,500 housing units needed to stabilize the housing supply.  In total we will need almost 60,000 new units by 2030 – and 90,000 by 2040 -  to accommodate estimated population growth.

I chose to raise my family in New Hampshire.  If we want our children and grandchildren to remain in New Hampshire and have a chance to raise families of their own here, we have got to make addressing this housing crisis a REAL priority.

It will take a concerted and integrated approach, with the public and private sectors – and the people who live in our communities - working in close collaboration with each other. Government alone cannot “solve the problem”, but it can provide the focus and leadership we need to address this as the priority it should be.

NH Deserves Better!  And if we are to going to make a real difference in whether or not our children and grandchildren can afford to live here, we need to:

1. Provide additional funding and financing tools to support the private development of single-family and multifamily housing units.

2. Review current regulatory requirements and timelines to ensure they are not creating barriers to the development of new projects.

3. Continue to encourage the education and training of the skilled workforce needed to construct these new housing units.

4. Encourage local communities to adopt the planning and zoning changes needed to ensure that we can add the different types of housing we need to meet the needs of all Granite Staters, regardless of where they live.

5. Offer targeted assistance to renters and/or new homeowners who least can afford it or who are providing much needed critical services in our communities, e.g. teachers and first responders.

We cannot afford another two years of inaction on the issues such as this that really matter to us in Hampton.  That’s why I running to represent you again.  With your help we can – and WILL – make a difference.