Workforce Housing
New Hampshire does not have a balanced supply of homes for its residents, particularly those with lower and middle incomes. Effects include people living far from where they work; undesirable, sprawling land-use patterns; higher energy consumption and personal economic stress; loss of community social capital; and companies having difficulty recruiting and retaining workers. New Hampshire needs more than 8,000 new housing units each year to keep pace with projected population growth. A tight workforce housing market decreases job opportunities, personal income, state and local revenues and the gross state product.
In 2005, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation dedicated staff and funding toward a coordinated approach to address this problem, focused on building statewide and regional education and advocacy capacity on issues related to workforce housing. Here is a sample of activities:
Statewide Workforce Housing Forum
Foundation roles: funding, collaboration
The quarterly gathering, hosted by New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority (NHHFA), brings developers, housing advocates, regional housing coalitions, local and regional planners, bankers, businesses, and others together to hear from experts, exchange ideas, learn about new or pending legislative or regulatory initiatives, and network among peers.
Regional Workforce Housing Coalitions
Foundation roles: funding, convening
The Foundation supports coalitions in the Piscataqua, Upper Valley, Lakes, Monadnock and Nashua regions to support workforce housing development through regional education and advocacy. Two more are just forming. Coalitions strive to build broad stakeholder engagement take a multi-town or regional approach, apply smart growth principles, and build a plan for long-term financial sustainability and support. A consistent theory of change/logic model guides their work; a common set of metrics helps them gauge success.
Growth and Development Roundtable
Foundation roles: funding, convening, collaboration, advocacy
Beginning in 2005, the Foundation convened key leaders from housing, conservation, planning, municipal and business groups to discuss growth, development, conservation and land-use issues in New Hampshire. The group quickly forged consensus on the need for more effective local land-use planning, particularly linking the need for housing with the desire to conserve important open space. The Growth and Development Roundtable developed, advocated and helped implement the Housing and Conservation Planning Program (HCPP), which provides state matching planning funds to municipalites. The Roundtable has also produced an educational video and set of case studies on the balance between housing and conservation.
NHHFA Housing Awareness Program
Foundation roles: funding, collaboration
In 2006, New Hampshire Housing and Finance Authority (NHHFA) created a full-time staff position dedicated to coordinating regional workforce housing coalitions, convening the quarterly Workforce Housing Forum, maintaining the workforcehousingnh.com Web site, and delivering presentations to various groups throughout the state to address a range of topics and issues related to workforce housing. In 2008, NHHFA added a second position, partially funded by the Foundation, to support this work. Later that year, the New Hampshire Legislature passed several key pieces of housing legislation, due in large part to the coordination and advocacy provided by these two positions.
Inclusionary Zoning Implementation Program (IZIP)
Foundation roles: funding
The New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority initiated a program to help municipal governments change local zoning ordinances to provide incentives for the development of affordable workforce housing in their communities. Of the 10 communities in the program, seven successfully proposed and passed “inclusionary zoning” amendments. The Foundation provided matching funds to support this program.
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