Paul Rossi: Instead of rent-control law, do more affordable housing

To The Daily Sun,

Lois Kessin recently laid out her priorities for Laconia. I disagree with several of them, but more importantly, I think we should look at the evidence.

Kessin points to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she helped write the city’s rent-control law, as a model for Laconia. Cambridge is indeed worth studying — but perhaps not for the reasons she suggests. MIT economists found that after rent control ended, residential property values and investment increased substantially. Another study found that crime fell by about 16%. That is difficult to square with Kessin’s claim that rent control helped make Cambridge one of America’s safest cities.

Kessin also blames rising local education costs on “downshifting” from Concord. But state aid per Laconia student has roughly kept pace with inflation over the past decade, while spending per student has risen about 22% above inflation, even as enrollment has declined. Laconia will receive less aid in fiscal year 2026, but much of that reduction reflects the scheduled phaseout of temporary “hold harmless” grants and a redistribution of state aid — not a statewide education cut. In fact, statewide adequacy funding increases from about $1.064 billion to $1.079 billion in FY2026.

Finally, Kessin says she wants to bring back Belknap County’s restorative justice program. There is a problem: it never went away. The program was reorganized and merged with pretrial services, saving the county about $138,000 while continuing diversion services. Tricia Thompson is doing fantastic work there and diversion referrals increased from 76 in 2024 to 88 in 2025.

As a candidate for state representative, I favor a different approach: build more housing rather than control its price, demand better results for our education dollars, and make government programs prove their value.

Before we spend more of taxpayers’ money, we should ask a simple question: Does the evidence justify it?

Paul Rossi

Laconia