CONCORD, NH – The Housing Champions program, seemingly doomed after a New Hampshire House vote to repeal in February, may now survive after the Senate Commerce Committee voted against going forward with the appeal Tuesday.
The Commerce Committee voted 5-0 that HB 1196, calling for the repeal of the Housing Champions program, was inexpedient to expedite. The full Senate will consider the bill Thursday. Gov. Kelly Ayotte has said she would like to see the program continue.
The motion to find the bill inexpedient to legislate, by Rep. Keith Murphy, R-Manchester, passed quickly with no discussion by the committee.
The Commerce Committee vote came nearly two months after representatives of housing-related organizations and agencies spoke against the repeal at a committee public hearing on Feb. 15.
The House bill was sponsored by Rep. Michael Drew, R-Manchester, who told the committee in February that the program is a “subsidy subsidy” that gives “free money” to favored communities with no accountability for how they will spend it.
Before the House voted 185-166 to repeal the program in February, Rep. Joe Alexander, R-Goffstown, one of the program’s creators, urged members to vote for the repeal, saying the money hasn’t been used to lower property taxes, and “most of the Housing Champions [property] taxes continue to rise at unsustainable levels.”
Those in favor of keeping the program cite the fact it was largely responsible for incentivizing nearly half of the housing built in the state in 2025. According to its annual report, the work of Housing Champions grantees represented 385 built workforce housing units and a potential 2,280 more made possible because of infrastructure upgrades last year, about 45% of the building permits issued for the year.
“This program encourages housing production, important to improve affordability, while preserving local interest and private property rights,” Josh Greenwald, a Keene real estate broker and president of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors, told the committee in February.
The program was created in 2023, and awarded $5 million in grants over two years to 11 towns and cities after they met criteria that removed barriers to housing development, including building housing, changing zoning and policy to enable more housing, or making plans to improve infrastructure. The initial $5 million for the program came from American Rescue Plan Act money, with $1.5 million awarded for workforce housing development and $3.5 million for infrastructure improvements that support any kind of housing development.
The program was not funded in the 2025-26 FY budget, which went into effect last year, but is still administered and allocating the money granted in its first two years.
The program designates Housing Champion status to towns and cities that score enough points on a matrix of pro-housing actions, making them eligible to apply for incentive grants. Municipalities that are named Housing Champions – there are 28 now – are eligible for both housing production grants after workforce housing is built, as well as infrastructure grants for planned work that will allow more housing to be developed.