Miles from home

Business NH Magazine, May 01, 2005 by Laliberte, Mark

THE PARTICIPANTS

Don Bealko is the vice president of marketing for Rivco in Concord and founder of NH Public Policy Alliance for Housing in Concord.

Kendall buck is the executive vice prsident of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of NH in Concord.

Anne Duncan Cooley is the executive director of the Upper Valley Housing Coalition in West Lebanon.

Cynthia Copeland is the executive director of the Strateford County Regional Planning Commission in Dover.

Mike LaFontaine is the director of the Community Housing Program for the NH Community Loan Fund in Concord.

Thomas Metzger is the president of Citizens Bank NH in Manchester.

Claira Monier is the executive director of the NH Housing Finance Authority in Bedford.

Paul Soughley is the CEO of H.J. Stabile Company in Nashua.

Sal Steven-Hubbard is the deputy director of Neighborhood Development for Manchester Neighborhood Housing Services in Manchester.

David Wood is the founder and executive director of Affordable Housing, Education and Development in Littleton.

For anyone trying to buy a home, the lack of affordable housing in the state is hardly news. As workers find it more difficult to find places to live near where they work, businesses are facing increasing problems with recruiting and attracting employees. The problem has persisted for years in the Granite State, yet solutions remain elusive. As prices continue to climb ever higher, there are more stakeholders - such as developers, planners and the nonprofit sector - getting involved and seeking a solution.

At first glance, the numbers are sobering. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, NH had the sixth-highest rental-occupied housing costs in the nation in 2003, with a median rate of $780 per month, which is a $48 increase from 2002. The Granite State ranks eighth when it comes to owner-occupied housing units, with a median monthly mortgage of $1,420 a month in 2003, up from $1,377 in 2002. This translates into an average home cost of $208,433 in 2003, a staggering $35,000 increase from one year earlier.

However, New England as a whole is second only to California as having the most expensive housing costs in the nation. The median home cost in Massachusetts was just under $310,000 in 2003. This is a factor in the rising housing costs in NH, as Massachusetts residents eye the Granite State as an affordable alternative, adversely affecting housing costs for current residents.

Many groups recognize that workforce housing is a problem. The NH Public Policy Alliance for Housing, which is an off-shoot of the Homebuilders and Remodelers Association of NH, will host the second annual "State of Housing in NH" conference on May 17 to discuss this issue. In addition, both the Business and Industry Association of NH and Manchester Neighborhood Housing Services recently held events highlighting the issue of inadequate housing options in the Granite State.

Business NH Magazine invited business leaders and housing experts from across the state to a roundtable discussion to analyze this pressing issue. Many of the participants, intimately familiar with the subject, discussed the extent of the problem, the solutions on the table and the consequences of the status quo.

The Scope of the Problem

"There has always been a discussion on what affordable housing is in New Hampshire, and it is certainly a subject that many people are looking at today," says Claira Monier, executive director of the NE Housing Finance Authority (NHHFA) in Bedford. "Remember that 70 percent of residents own their own home, which is one of the highest levels of ownership rates in the country. This is not an issue that affects everybody."

However, says Don Bealko, the vice president of marketing for Rivco and a founder of NH Public Policy Alliance for Housing, both in Concord, younger people are not purchasing homes because of the tremendous cost.

"In 2003, less than 40 percent of people under the age of 30 owned their own homes. This is going to be an increasing problem for the future workers in our state and it is here where we need to solve the problem," he says.

The panelists agreed that these people are most in need of affordable housing and are the engine that drives economic development in the state. The business community is taking note.

Mike LaFontaine, the director of the Community Housing Program for the NH Community Loan Fund in Concord, says that, as the situation gets worse, more stakeholders are coming to the table.

"It's not just liberal activists like myself who care about affordable housing anymore," LaFontaine says with a laugh. "During the past few years, I've seen developers, policymakers and, more recently, the business community talking about the problem. They recognize how important it is that their workers can afford housing."

It is a problem plaguing businesses across the state. "What we're hearing from them is that housing costs are a huge problem for businesses in trying to attract and retain employees from out of the region," says Anne Duncan Cooley, the executive director of the Upper Valley Housing Coalition in West Lebanon.