affordable housing

Housing construction in New Hampshire is failing to meet the demand of would-be homeowners and renters in the state. The vacancy rate for apartments around the state is below 1 %.

New Hampshire's rental market remains tight, and shortages of affordable housing have widespread impacts on the state's economy. We discuss housing issues, and take a look at business-related legislation at the Statehouse, including business tax cuts and a capital gains tax. 

This show airs live at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 11, and again at 7 p.m.

In the southern region of New Hampshire and on the Seacoast, vacancy rates are low, housing prices are high, and there is a lack of affordable housing for families and young adults. In the northern and western parts of the state, substandard housing remains a problem. As part of the The Balance series on NHPR about the cost of living in the Granite State, we look at why our state continues to have issues, and how some cities, like Londonderry, are turning to mixed community developments. 

This program will air on Thursday, April 26 at 9 a.m., and will be rebroadcast again at 7 p.m.  It was originally broadcast on March 13.

Boston commuter cities like Nashua are jumping on the chance to develop a private passenger rail, after years of unsuccessful campaigning for a public rail system. New Hampshire's zoning ordinances and city planning processes are drawing criticism for their contribution to the current over-priced housing market. And millennials get their own commission to help the state appeal to a younger population. 

Lawmakers and business leaders met with advocates in Bedford on Wednesday to talk about the link between affordable housing and New Hampshire's workforce.

In New Hampshire, hairdressers need a license but home builders don't. And some say that's a huge problem, allowing unqualified contractors to get away with shoddy work and consumer scams. But others warn that more regulation wouldn't help, and could raise home prices at a time when the state needs affordable housing.

This week, NHPR has been looking at what homelessness means in New Hampshire. As part of our series No Place to Go: Homeless in New Hampshire,  we visited the PK Motel in Effingham, and heard about how having a roof over your head isn’t the same as having a home.

So where is that line so many families are straddling, between financial insecurity and having no place to live?

Dean Christon is Executive Director of New Hampshire’s Housing Finance Authority and he joined NHPR’s Peter Biello to talk through some of these issues.

Residents of a mobile home park in Portsmouth recently purchased the land they’ve been living on for decades. This park joins a growing number of other mobile home communities to do the same. When Kathy Ireland received a letter last year that said the mobile-home park she lives in was being sold, she wasn’t quite sure how to take it.

It's a question Granite State communities are grappling with, as progress appears to have stalled on finding housing for homeless people. Advocates agree a dearth of affordable housing exacerbates the problem. But there's debate over whether providing temporary shelter can forestall lasting solutions on such challenges as unemployment and substance abuse.

We're looking into New Hampshire’s affordable housing problem: how it happened, what’s changing, and what the obstacles are to fixing it.

GUESTS

• Dean Christon – executive director of the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority
• Dennis Delay– economist at the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies and co-author of a new three-part report commissioned by the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority.

CALLOUT

More Americans than ever are renting rather than buying. Reasons range from more stringent mortgage requirements to lifestyle preferences for mobility over stability. Some say owning a home is still a great bet. But others say it’s time to rethink that notion, as well as the tax benefits that favor owners over renters.

Following up on our homelessness show yesterday, we’re looking at the broader issue of poverty in New Hampshire.  While the state has one of the nation’s lowest poverty rates, it doesn’t always do well on certain measures, like childhood poverty. We’re looking at the latest numbers, and some of the efforts to address the issue.

GUESTS:

For almost 25 years a nonprofit called Affordable Housing, Education and Development has been helping low-income families in the North Country to find housing, sometimes in rental units it owns.

But now it is trying something far different and it admits it is a gamble. It is selling its own design of energy-efficient modular and manufactured homes…

The idea is to help people like Tammy Zubik of Bethlehem.

For years Zubik has had a dream about living in a home of her own, not renting.