O P I N I O N

THE SOAPBOX

Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.

Are the Manchester city officials afraid to put the citizens of Manchester first over developers?

There seems to be a pattern to just say “yes” to a developer that comes before the city to one of the Boards and asks for a tax credit or a variance that will produce more money for the developer. Part of this pattern is that the city does not ask the developer to add affordable units to their proposed rental properties. This just recently happened when Brady Sullivan asked for a 79E tax credit. Brady Sullivan was asked if they would consider making a handful of units truly affordable for citizens that have Section 8 low-come housing vouchers. Brady Sullivan said “no” to affordable units and the Mayor and the Board of Alderman just gave Brady Sullivan the tax credit. Of course, this tax credit is paid for by the citizens of Manchester who will only receive more expensive market rate apartments for the city.

Now this same scenario has happened at the Manchester Zoning Board that met on May 7, 2025. The Zoning Board just approved a density variance for Granite Earth, LLC for a six-story, multi-family housing unit at 1308 Elm Street. The variance would allow 51 units, which will give the developer extra units over and above the required zoning regulations. This means that the builder gets additional income because of being able to build extra units. All the planned units are to be at the market rate.

One Manchester citizen at the Zoning Board meeting asked about creating at least 10% of the units for section 8 voucher holders for low-income housing. That person spoke about Manchester’s need for truly affordable housing, and not market rate or workforce housing. The Zoning Board listened but did nothing to address the community needs for housing. Instead, the Zoning Board gave the developer the density variance. This developer will now go to the Planning Board. Will the Planning Board also just say “yes” to this developer?

It appears that the city officials are in fear of the NH law that does not allow mandatory inclusionary zoning. The NH Housing Toolbox states, “The typical Inclusionary Zoning law specifies that certain zoning rules (maximum density, dimensional rules, minimum parking) can be relaxed for new developments of a certain size if that development rents or sells a portion of its units at an affordable rate to income-eligible households. Under New Hampshire law, Inclusionary Zoning must be voluntary (i.e., a developer elects to provide the affordable units in exchange for zoning relief).”

So, the Manchester city officials can ask a developer to put in a percentage of affordable units but cannot require a developer to do that. It must be voluntary on the part of the developer when they are asked. However, it seems that the city rarely asks developers to put in a percentage of affordable units. It is usually a Manchester resident that is bringing up this issue at a city Board meeting. Also, it appears that the Zoning Board, the Planning Board, and the Mayor and the Board of Alderman get stuck in their own fear about breaking the law about mandatory inclusionary zoning, and so they just grant what the developer is asking for.

The NH law does state that there can be no mandatory inclusionary zoning. It does not state that a city or town cannot refuse a variance or a tax credit. There does not need to be an automatic connection between denying a variance and a tax credit and asking a developer if they would add affordable units. However, that is where city officials appear to go every time. City officials ask many questions when a developer comes before them. One of the questions should always be whether the developer is willing to make 10% of the units Section 8 low-income housing. When the final decision is made on a variance request or a tax credit request, the answer does not have to be a “Yes” merely because one of the questions of the developer was about affordable units. This can apply to the Zoning Board, the Planning Board, the Mayor, and the Board of Alderman.  

The Mayor and the Board of Alderman, the Zoning Board, and the Planning Board need to start thinking of the needs of the citizens of Manchester and not the needs of developers. The Mayor and the Board of Alderman, the Zoning Board, and the Planning Board need to start asking developers to make 10% of their units Section 8 low-income housing; and they need to let the developers just build what they want if they don’t want to add low income units, but without a requested variance or a tax credit. Just say “No”!