The housing crisis that’s been felt across the U.S. hit especially hard in New Hampshire in 2022. Supply has continued to lag far behind demand, and the challenge has been exacerbated by rapidly escalating costs for first-time home buyers and renters.
In June, Concord was named the hottest real estate market in the U.S. based on a number of factors like the number of views per listing and how quickly properties were sold. While that was good news for those cashing in on their home’s soaring value, it left others stuck in housing limbo – they couldn’t afford or find a home to buy and they were squeezed out of a rental market with hardly any vacancies.
In a healthy rental economy, a 5 percent vacancy rate allows for supply to meet demand. But in 2022, the rental vacancy rate sat at 0.5 percent statewide and at 0.3 percent in Merrimack County. That means that just one out of every 333 rental units is available. With so few apartments on the market, the median rent has jumped to $1,510, according to the annual New Hampshire Housing Residential Rental Cost Survey.
Emergency rental assistance continued to alleviate at least some of the pain that’s been felt since the start of the pandemic. And while most have yet to open, new affordable developments in Concord could help ease the strain in the coming year.
The years 2020 and 2021 are best remembered by masks, isolation and eventual vaccines. But this time also signaled the start of more federal money to help cash-strapped states. One of these measures was emergency rental assistance.
Over the past three years, emergency rental assistance was used to help pay landlords each month, to cut high utility bills and for vouchers for residents to stay in hotels for 18-month spans if they were between stable housing. Since March 2021, more than 25,000 households in New Hampshire have received emergency rental assistance. These funds total over $270 million and provided an average of about $10,000 per application.
However, this program will slowly wind down in the new year after the U.S. Treasury denied the state’s request for $67 million for additional funds. In response, the state closed applications for rental assistance in October. Now funding will be available to those who have already applied and are housed in hotels.
The Executive Council approved $20 million earlier in December to extend stays for hotel residents through April. For residents with children, support will continue through June.
“I think given the fact that we got a lot of people in housing situations, and again, we’re talking about a lot of communities in rural areas that are utilizing these hotel arrangements, where there’s quite literally nowhere else for them to go,” said Taylor Caswell, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs to Executive Council members. “Given where we are right now with the housing situation in New Hampshire, this is our best option.”
With the low vacancy rate and high rental costs, it is unclear what housing options will be available for these individuals once hotel funding expires. But the Executive Council stepping in to extend funding means it is likely the emergency rental assistance program will come to an end in 2023.
New housing developments will help add to the city’s stock. A series of projects, which began construction in 2022, will have different price points.
In and near downtown Concord, more than 250 units are under construction thanks to two major development projects – the Rail Yards on Langdon Ave and the long-awaited reconstruction of the former Employment Security Buildings on S. Main Street.
The Rail Yards is a 199-unit development in the South End that used federal tax credits to create mostly income-restricted affordable apartments. It is currently under construction and the first apartments are expected to be available next year.
The former Employment Security Building, which has been torn down, is set to consist of 64 units priced at market rate. Despite the significant public investment in the building, the Flatley Company will be able to charge whatever it wants for rent after it purchased the property for less than $300,000 from the city.
In Penacook, construction is underway on the second phase of Penacook Landing.
The site will feature a 20,000-square-foot apartment building that will house 20 units. Those 20 will include 18 units designated as affordable, meaning their rent will be subsidized to tenants whose income falls under a certain threshold.
Construction on the site began on Oct. 25 and is expected to be completed by the fall of 2023. The first phase of the project, which included 34 units, was completed in 2020. This came after years of debate as to what was in store for the 8 acres of land on the site of a former tannery in downtown Penacook.
Additionally, plans to redevelop the 100-acre plot adjacent to the Concord Monitor building were also announced in 2022.
New England Family Housing signed a purchase and sale agreement for the land earlier this year. Since then, they’ve met with Penacook residents about a proposal for 652 housing units as well as business and storage space.
To incentivize developers, Gov. Chris Sununu announced a new funding program, InvestNH, that will provide grants to expand and accelerate housing construction across the state.
The program, which totals $100 million, is split into two categories. The first designation is the Capital Grant Program which provides $60 million to developers to help complete projects currently under construction that provide affordable housing units.
In November, the Executive Council approved $49.5 million in grants to 30 projects through this program. These projects will provide 918 new affordable units and 1,472 total units across the state.
The second portion of the program sets aside $40 million for municipalities to revamp their zoning code, demolish dilapidated buildings and provide incentives for each new unit of affordable housing that is built.
In 2022, the Monitor also spent time talking to residents across Merrimack County about their housing challenges.
In July, we spoke to Larry Davis, a longtime Franklin resident who fears his house may be taken by the city for unpaid property taxes. Davis, who lives in a converted garage, was the subject of a Monitor story in 2016, after which an anonymous couple paid his outstanding balance and put money toward future payments.
But five years later, he is back in a similar position, wondering if Franklin will seize his longtime home, the place in which he wants to die.
We spoke to Alycia Jordan, who was formerly homeless but now lives in an apartment in Concord. Prior to experiencing homelessness herself, Jordan worked at the McKenna House in Concord. She shared her story about housing insecurity, and ultimate success, with the Monitor.
We interviewed Renee Johnson, who is a mother of three and was temporarily homeless this summer. Johnson had a housing choice voucher, but struggled to find a landlord that would accept her rental subsidy, as New Hampshire is the only state in New England where it is legal to discriminate based on source of income. Since writing about Johnson in August, she has successfully found an apartment for herself and her kids.
We also wrote about Cathie Keets this fall, who is a longtime resident of Meredith. With the pandemic inflating second home sales, Keets fears for middle-class residents in town who are slowly getting priced out of their lakeside life.