CONCORD — In its first round of applications, 18 Granite State municipalities were awarded the Housing Champion designation, including each of the largest cities in the state. 

Notably absent from the list are the City of Laconia and all other Lakes Region towns and cities.

The New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs designated 18 municipalities, including Concord, Manchester, Nashua, Portsmouth and Dover as “housing champions” in recognition of their efforts to address the state’s housing shortages by supporting affordable, accessible and sustainable housing development.

The designees were named Dec. 18. 

“Housing is one of the biggest challenges to the New Hampshire economy and these communities have demonstrated leadership in fostering solutions supporting affordable, accessible, and sustainable housing development,” BEA Commissioner Taylor Caswell said in a release. “These communities set an example by creating opportunities for housing solutions that benefit residents and drive economic growth. Their innovative approaches and collaborative efforts are instrumental in addressing our state’s housing challenges.”

Municipalities who applied to the program were scored based on their commitment to advancing state housing initiatives. Program coordinators looked at various aspects of city governance, such as their respective zoning ordinances.

Towns and cities which receive the housing champion designation are eligible for preferential funding opportunities and other financial incentives, notably a $10,000-per-unit bonus for affordable housing.

With a Housing Champion designation, communities are eligible to apply for the Housing Infrastructure Municipal Grant, with $3.5 million available, and the Housing Production Municipal Grant, with $1.5 million available. Outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu allocated $5 million in funding for the program in last year’s state budget.

Those grants are intended to assist municipalities in developing housing solutions and improving critical infrastructure. 

Cities and towns interested in gaining access to that funding pool must first apply to receive the designation. In order to become eligible for the designation, municipalities must earn a total of 80 points across a variety of categories, including their zoning ordinance.

The menu is a la carte, with municipalities able to pick and choose which regulations of theirs already meet the standards for the program and which others, if any, they’d need to amend. In some cases, such as in Laconia, municipalities may already be close to meeting those standards plus or minus a few definitions in the zoning ordinance.

The program received 21 complete applications for the designation program by the Nov. 15 deadline. Of those 21, Hillsborough, Littleton and Swanzey were not selected.

Laconia city councilors elected not to apply for the program in their first round of funding, which closed in November. There will be another application period starting Tuesday, April 1, 2025. 

Applying for the designation had the support of half the Laconia City Council, plus a number of city leaders including in planning and zoning and the city’s new Economic and Housing Development Director Joia Hughes. She said previously that gaining access to funding for development of infrastructure could provide the city an effective solution to what’s been considered a barrier to development in recent years.

The Housing Champion designation program is administered by the BEA and is part of the broader InvestNH program, which was allocated $100 million in American Rescue Act Plan funding in 2022.

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