Making Housing More Affordable

Home prices might be down 15% across the state but that still leaves a lot of people priced out of the market or working two jobs just to pay rent. Some towns have made the problem worse over the years through zoning rules that lead to higher costs or squeeze out proposals for smaller homes or apartments. Last year, the state passed a law that says those towns need a new zoning law.

There’s been pushback from people who think that change means low-income housing. Ben Frost with the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority says that could be included but the law is much broader.

FROST: It’s calling for housing that is affordable to a typical family. If we’re talking about single family homes, we’re talking about things like capes.

Frost says this comes up mainly in towns where growth has been fastest. Voters in places like Bedford, Brookline and Pelham will have a chance to weigh in.

With this town meeting minute, I’m Jon Greenberg.

A typical zoning change as it appears on the warrant:
Workforce Housing Shall the Town adopt Amendment #1 as proposed by the Planning Board, amending Section 3 by inserting a new section between Sections 3.5 and 3.6, renumbering as appropriate, this new section to read: 3.6 Workforce Housing 3.6.1 In the event that an applicant intends to qualify for workforce housing under RSA 674:601, the Planning Board may require agreements so that the units so designated would remain as workforce housing. 3.6.2 In Order to evaluate the cost of complying with the conditions and restrictions and the effect on economic viability, under RSA 674:40II, the Planning Board would expect that the applicantt's submission would include, but not be limited to, square-foot size of dwelling units, number of bedrooms, property cost, site development cost, cost of off-site improvements, unit construction cost per squme foot, ffi'chitectural and engineering cost, legal cost, construction financing cost, developer's profit, cost of conditions and restrictions.