The Soapbox: A Roadmap to more housing for the Queen City

read more…: The Soapbox: A Roadmap to more housing for the Queen City

As members of the Manchester Neighbors Welcome Coalition, we know that Manchester needs more homes at different prices and sizes for our current and future neighbors. Manchester is short 8,500 homes to meet today’s needs, to say nothing of the future. Rent for 2-bedroom apartments jumped over 20% last year. The average house costs over $180,000 more than four years ago.

Protecting New Hampshire renters must be a priority

read more…: Protecting New Hampshire renters must be a priority

Even with current protections in place, approximately 400 evictions occur every month in New Hampshire. We need that number to go down, not up. It’s clear that urgent legislative action is needed to protect renters. We cannot ignore the human suffering caused by policies prioritizing landlords’ interests over tenants’ rights. The time for action is now. 

The Soapbox: We need policy change to bring back affordable housing

read more…: The Soapbox: We need policy change to bring back affordable housing

Renting in Manchester is often stressful. Too many of our friends and neighbors are wracked by the uncertainty of whether they’ll be able to remain in the community for another year, while trying to keep up with increasing rent costs, which are a direct result of the lack of homes here in Manchester and the surrounding towns. The shortage of attainable housing options for working folks is a policy choice – a choice that has forced young families who grew up here to move away, kept too many stuck in housing situations they cannot afford, and prevented young adults from growing up and moving out.

Letters: How Corrupt is This?

read more…: Letters: How Corrupt is This?

There is NO way this bill will get a fair hearing. This kind of manipulation (forming special taxpayer-funded lobbying groups and committees) is typical of Sununu and his developer cronies after they fail to pass unsavory bills the normal way.

New Hampshire needs 150,000 housing units by 2040

read more…: New Hampshire needs 150,000 housing units by 2040

By 2040, 88,400 new housing units will be needed, with 30,000 of them rental units. To accomplish this, the state needs to increase building permits by 36 percent statewide. (From 2017 to 2021, about 4,000 building permits were issued per year.) “The only plausible way that this could be achieved is through a combination of local and state action,” the study said.