Enthusiasm among housing advocates is high for moving the needle forward to increase the residential supply throughout New Hampshire.

But, while enthusiasm and public support for changes in legislation, policy and zoning are high to make housing more available and more affordable, 2024 has been a mixed in terms of results.

Except for some movement for the approval and construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs), little changed in 2024 to increase the opportunities in towns and neighborhoods to build the kind of affordable and workforce housing that New Hampshire needs to meet future demand.

Governor-elect Kelly Ayotte, left, makes a point during her remarks at the housing roundtable forum held Dec. 13 by the Center for Ethics in Society at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. At right is moderator Elissa Margolin, recently named director of housing programs at the college. (Photo by Paul Briand)

“There has been little to no change in the percentage of buildable area for other housing types since the atlas release in 2022,” said Noah Hodgetts, principal planner at the Office of Planning & Development at the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs.

“In most communities in New Hampshire, it’s still difficult to build anything but large-lot, single-family homes,” he added.

Those are some of the talking points drawn from a day-long housing roundtable forum held Dec. 13 at Saint Anselm College in Manchester by the school’s Center for Ethics in Society.

The center pulled back the curtain on restrictive housing zoning policies statewide when it revealed in May 2022 the Zoning Atlas that offers a graphical, detailed look at how communities limit and discourage housing development through their zoning.

This was the forum’s seventh year, attracting some 180 people to the event at the St. A’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

“I’d like to think that over these seven years we’ve helped move the needle a little bit on knowledge and information, on some of our attitudes and perceptions in the state, certainly, hopefully, on legislation and policy,” said Max Latona, executive director of the college’s newly created Office of Partnerships.

As the college’s former executive director of the Center for Ethics in Society since its founding in 2017, he was the fronting face and vocal force in the release of the Zoning Atlas.

Statistically, the need for housing is clear and public support for housing is overwhelming, according to data provided at the forum.

The New Hampshire Council on Housing Stability says the state needs 90,000 new housing units by 2040 to keep up with demand.

To illustrate public support, Latona pointed to surveys commissioned by the center and done by NH Institute of Politics.

A survey of Granite Staters showed 75% support the notion that communities need for more affordable housing. “Even more starkly, 59% of people said, ‘My own neighborhood needs more affordable housing to be built,’” said Latona.

A separate survey among business leaders in the state showed that 86% of them cited housing as their top challenge, even head of workforce hiring, and 85% agree that lack of housing makes it a challenge for them to attract and retain workers.

“These are our business leaders, which are offering their vital economic activity to the state, telling us that housing needs to be addressed,” said Latona.

Some of the enthusiasm for 2025 held by housing advocates is rooted in new political leadership in the state — Kelly Ayotte succeeding Christopher Sununu as governor, Sharon Carson succeeding Jeb Bradley as president of the state Senate.

“So what are we looking at in 2025? There’s a lot of new industry coalitions. Leaders are coming together. More organizations who have either been on the outskirts of this fight or been starting to dip their toes in the water are taking that next step in leveraging their networks, bringing people together for this upcoming session,” said Nick Taylor, executive director of Housing Action NH.

“There’s that new governor, Governor Ayotte, coming in here with a robust housing plan, and really made that a central part of her campaign, saying that we need to move forward on this issue, one of the most pressing issues facing our state,” Taylor added. “At the State House, there’s a new senate president, there’s that growing bipartisan housing caucus, and there are other committees and subcommittees being formed to continue to make that legislative process more fruitful.”

For her part, Ayotte used the analogy of “levers” that have to be pulled this way and that to effect enough change to produce the projected housing that’s needed in the decades ahead.

She talked about one lever involving permitting that developments often need from an alphabet soup of state agencies. Often a development can get stuck in approval from one agency, and she wants to overhaul the process to offer more congruence and transparency.

In terms of what she called a “bigger lever,” she pointed to the NH Housing and Finance Affordable Housing Fund. “That’s an important one,” she said.

“Thinking about you guys, I know you worked hard on the ADU legislation in the last legislative session., I hope that issue is taken back up again,” Ayotte added. “That issue lets families stay together too, right? So it kind of makes sense, and though it’s a small lever, it can be an important lever to keeping some families together.”

Another lever she spoke of involved her and the state’s relationship with the federal government, particularly grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

“If we’re given some of those federal high dollars, we’ll maximize them. We’ll get everyone to the table. We’ll make sure that they’re spent sensibly and that we’re actually addressing the problem that whatever the grant program has put to it,” said Ayotte.

The governor-elect said she doesn’t intend on renewing a starter home program in the state that provided $10,000 in a first-home loan assistance.

“I think that we’re only going to make this more affordable if we have more housing,” said Ayotte. “That’s how markets work, and so I think that’s where the priority has to be.”

Maggie Goodlander, who will succeed Annie Kuster as the U.S. representative from New Hampshire’s District 2, described politics as a “team sport.”

“And it’s so true in the area of housing,” said Goodlander, “and that’s why, after the election, one of the very first things I had a chance to talk with Governor-elect Ayotte about was housing and how we can work together.”

In terms of housing-related legislation, Jack Ruderman, public affairs manager at NH Housing, described the 2024 legislative session as a “turning point.”

“Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle sought to eliminate barriers to expanding the supply of housing and making housing more affordable. The outcome was mixed. Some bills that were ambitious and far reaching didn’t make it across the finish line, but a number of other bills addressing various obstacles to building more housing garnered bipartisan support and were enacted into law, taking the state in a new direction on housing. Together, these bills provide a solid foundation to build on in the coming legislative session,” he said.

ADUs will, again, be among the issues the Legislature will consider.

Current law allows attached ADUs by right, in that they are allowed in all districts that permit single-family dwellings, without discretionary approval by a zoning board.

Detached ADUs, however, are allowed or denied at the discretion of zoning authorities.

With the attention on zoning generated by the Zoning Atlas, some communities have taken a deep dive into rezoning considerations. In some cases, communities have eased up restrictions to allow more diverse housing. Plymouth, cited as an example, has eased parking requirements for ADUs and multifamily dwellings, reduced minimum lot sizes, and now allows multiple single-family or two-family dwellings on a single lot in many districts.

Other communities have tightened their zoning restrictions, according to Jason Sorens, senior researcher for the American Institute for Economic Research. For example, Ashland, Barrington, Bradford, Durham, Epping and Newport have specifically banned detached ADUs in certain districts.

“It goes both ways,” said Sorens. Looking ahead to 2025, the Zoning Atlas is expected to get another layer of data that includes public sewer and water systems, where they are and where they aren’t. Lack of access to sewer and water is often a barrier to housing development.