An attempt to repeal the Housing Champions incentives program sputtered in the state Senate.
Republicans in the House of Representatives sought to end the program, which gives some towns and cities preferential access to $5 million in grants to help with development and infrastructure projects.
Senate Republicans weren’t on board. The Commerce Committee unanimously moved to kill the bill, with some wanting to wait and watch its progress before gauging the results.
“Given the program is still in its infancy, and housing remains a top priority for many residents and businesses, the committee felt this bill was not necessary at this time,” Sen. Keith Murphy, a Manchester Republican, wrote in his report.
The full Senate is expected to vote on Thursday, as part of the consent calendar, a package of bills that is typically acted on in a sweeping vote, without debate.
Though it won the support of Republicans in the House, the repeal bill faced an uphill battle in the Senate from the start. Before it even came to his committee, Republican Sen. Daniel Innis of Bradford appeared ready to pump the brakes.
“I’m not willing to turn this back,” he told the Monitor in February.
Rep. Matt Drew, a Manchester Republican who authored the bill, declined to comment. While introducing it in January, he contended that Housing Champions program did little to incentivize any housing at all. He called it a “bad program” that the state couldn’t afford.
The 28 communities designated as “Housing Champions” approved 45% of the housing units that were built last year, according to the state Department of Business and Economic Affairs.
The money, split into two different grants, was intended to assist nearly 2,300 housing units in 18 communities. One grant is distributed as a reimbursement, meaning municipalities will only see that funding if they actually do the work. Concord, for example, will receive roughly $860,000 once it submits receipts for planned sewer upgrades in the Heights.
The other set of grants sent money to communities, with no strings attached, as a reward for workforce housing units they’d already added to the market.
Republicans did not place any new funding for Housing Champions into the state budget last year, meaning it will essentially lie dormant until more money is allocated. The current legislature has sought to attack the housing crisis by enacting zoning and regulatory reforms rather than investing money in it.
Meanwhile, Democrats — backed by many of the towns that have benefited from the program — argue that the housing crisis requires a more comprehensive strategy. Financial assistance, they say, helps towns set the stage for more development and gives builders relief from rising construction costs.
With many towns growing disgruntled over recent state laws that increasingly allow development to bypass local zoning boards, Housing Champions is seen as a welcome incentive amid a slough of forced mandates. They want the carrot, not the stick.
In that sense, Housing Champions is “more than just a grant program,” said Margaret Byrnes, executive director of the New Hampshire Municipal Association.
“It is also a recognition that there is a need for state and municipal partnership in tackling the housing shortage, and it was a huge step forward when it was established in 2023,” Byrnes said at a public hearing earlier this year. “I believe it’s also a recognition that increasing population and density in municipalities does have a cost, and the state is making an investment in that cost by helping to support municipalities.”
