The Executive Council approved $5.1 million this month in funding towards the development of 563 housing units in twelve municipalities across the state, including in Berlin, Wolfeboro, Portsmouth and Nashua. All but 61 of those will be affordable units.
The money awarded by the state is distributed to specific projects, such as the construction of rental units near downtown Jaffrey and the redevelopment of a former Public Works building in Rochester into housing.
The state Department of Business and Economic Affairs is administering the awards. Commissioner Lucy Lange said the projects are necessary to keep and build the state’s workforce.
“If we're going to continue to grow as a state,” Lange said, “we've got to be able to offer folks an opportunity for some housing that isn't what's our average [home price] right now.”
The median price for single-family homes in New Hampshire reached $576,000 in May, a new record high.
Keene Housing, the developer of the Jaffrey project, will use its $540,000 in state funding to buy the land where it will build 30 affordable housing units. Joshua Meehan, the Executive Director of Keene Housing, estimates the Jaffrey apartments will be largely reserved for people making 60% of the area median income, with a smaller subset reserved for people making 30% or less. The units will be a mix of 3, 2 and 1-bedroom units, which are needed in the area.
His organization currently has a waitlist of 900 Granite Staters anxiously looking for housing they can afford. Meehan said they recently opened a Keene property with 30 affordable units, and they received 365 applications from potential tenants.
“We could have built ten of those properties, and we'd still not meet all of the need,” Meehan said. “There's little doubt to us that the need remains profound. And we've got a lot of work to do to try and meet it.”
The Jaffrey property is still in the early stages. With the state’s money, Keene Housing will purchase the land for the apartments, then have to raise more money for developing it. Best case scenario is that they break ground in Aug. 2027.
