Legislative Update

The NH Legislature has been busy with a slew of housing related bills this year. Two bills with a potentially big impact are making their way through the NH Senate.
 

• SB 145 establishes a New Hampshire housing champion designation program, including a housing production municipal grant program and a housing infrastructure municipal grant and loan program. The bill also establishes positions within the department of business and economic affairs to operate the program, and appropriates $29 million for the programs. This bill was passed out of the Commerce Committee and now heads to the Senate Finance Committee.
  
  
• SB 231 is called the “housing funding bill” by advocates. It establishes a $5 million per year historic housing tax credit, and makes the following general fund appropriations for the FY24/25 biennium:
  • $8 million to the Department of Health and Human Services for homeless shelters.
  • $2 million to the Department of Health and Human Services for housing stabilization and eviction prevention.
  • $25 million to the state’s Affordable Housing Fund, which is used by NH Housing to subsidize the development of affordable housing throughout the state.
  • $30 million to the Department of Business and Economic Affairs to continue the InvestNH housing program that Governor Sununu launched last year with federal COVID relief funds.

 
As part of the Housing Action NH coalition, we expressed support for the housing funding bill and urged lawmakers to consider the following improvements to the bill:

1. Increase funding for homeless services. DHHS requested $20 million over the biennium, which would add 853 more shelter beds in NH. SB 231 only includes enough funding for 573 new beds.
2. Housing units built with InvestNH funds are only required to be “affordable” for five years. Housing Action NH recommends units be affordable for 20 years.

 
SB 231 was heard by the Senate Finance Committee on February 21, but has yet to be voted on at the committee level.