Home is where the housing is

By Granite Outdoor

If you own a business in New Hampshire, it’s no secret that it’s hard to attract talent and grow your team when employees can’t find housing. In Granite Outdoor’s recent Outdoor Workforce Assessment Survey, 74 percent of respondents said that lack of housing options in their area is a barrier for recruiting. How can we keep our recreation hubs, hotels, restaurants, and retailers going when there’s nowhere for folks to live?

Photo by Craig McLachlan on Unsplash

So it’s exciting to see New Hampshire take actionable steps forward to address the housing crisis. Gov. Sununu announced that InvestNH, the $100 million program aimed to create more affordable workforce housing across the state, will start taking developers’ applications next week.

As written, the grant program can only move the needle on housing if developers and municipalities are willing to implement long-term solutions. For developers, the minimum five-year deed restriction for projects is a concern because developers and/or owners can remove the affordability requirement and convert market-rate housing into upscale condos. For municipalities, grants can be used to fund studies and hire help to review and change zoning ordinances - but only if local zoning boards actually buy in to a “Yes In My Backyard” approach to inclusionary zoning.

Bottom line: We all have a stake in keeping workforce housing affordable for the long-term, but we can only shout it from the rooftops for so long without acollaborative commitment among businesses, policymakers, developers and voters to making a change. And while that burden is and always will be local, this is a good start.