For Tony Palisi, the choice almost came down to finishing school or paying rent. A hospital pharmacy technician taking classes in accounting, Palisi, 30, was living in a small two-bedroom apartment with his wife, their baby daughter and his brother-in-law.

The family needed a larger apartment but could not find one near Concord for less than $900. Palisi applied for federal housing assistance but never heard back.

"We were worried I might have to stop school so my wife could work nights," Palisi said.

After nearly a year of searching, they found a subsidized apartment through CATCH Neighborhood Housing, a Merrimack County nonprofit. They pay around $780 a month for three bedrooms and plan to stay until Palisi finishes school.

Palisi is one of many Concord residents who hold down steady jobs but still find it nearly impossible to pay rent or buy a home without assistance. Private developers say rising costs of land and construction, and increased state and local government regulations, have made it difficult to build affordable homes and make a profit. In surrounding towns, the problem is even more acute with growth management ordinances and zoning laws that restrict the number of units developers can build.

"There's no question the larger, more ornate the project, the higher the income level of the consumer, the more you're able to make a profit," said Tom Avallone, president of Cobb Hill Construction, which is building Bow's first low-cost condominium project. "You look at an affordable housing project, you're accepting that you won't make a lot of money, and you have to do this for the greater need of the community."

The need

An "affordable" home is generally defined as one for which a person is paying less than 30 percent of his income. In Merrimack County, the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment this year is $1,020 a month, including utilities, according to the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority. That means a family would need to earn $40,800 a year for the median apartment to be considered affordable.

Angel Colarusso, director of development and marketing for CATCH, said many of its 194 subsidized rentals are available to anyone earning less than 80 percent of the median income. In Merrimack County, this means $39,200 for a single person or $56,000 for a family of four. Currently, 86 percent of CATCH residents work - in schools, banks, restaurants, even state government. "These are teachers, firefighters, paralegals," Colarusso said.

Tamara Saxby, program manager for the Friends Emergency Housing Program, said her average client at the shelter is a single mother with two or three children working in retail or at a fast-food restaurant, earning about $18,000 a year.

"Our folks are spending 75 percent of their income just to get housing," Saxby said. "That doesn't leave much left over for basic needs - food, clothing, daycare, health care, transportation."

The eight-family Friends shelter is filled year round, and during busy months, it turns away 15 families a week. The wait-list for federally subsidized vouchers can be three to five years, Saxby said.

Even with help, apartments are not always available. John Hoyt, executive director of the Concord Housing Authority, said his organization recently distributed 40 housing vouchers to low-income residents. But federal regulations limit the amount of money the housing authority can subsidize. For a two-bedroom apartment, it can help with rents only up to $735. As a result, only 16 of the families receiving vouchers actually found housing.

The organization, which helps those earning 30 percent of the median income, has filled about 500 rental units in its own buildings and through subsidies to local landlords. It has a wait-list 500 people long.

Hoyt said rental prices remain high because housing costs are also high. "People can't afford to buy new homes, so they're staying in apartments, creating tremendous demand on a fixed supply of rental units."

In the long term, a lack of affordable housing can hurt the local economy. Concord Mayor Mike Donovan acknowledged that affordable housing is a "serious problem."

Single page