Vanessa Saunders: NH’s housing crisis: Permission to build just isn’t enough

To The Daily Sun,

New Hampshire has spent considerable time debating where housing can be built, how much parking should be required, and which zoning restrictions ought to be relaxed. All worthwhile conversations. But there's an elephant in the room, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Who is going to pay to build the homes people can actually afford?

According to New Hampshire Housing's latest report, the median single-family home price has reached $575,000. Only 15% of New Hampshire households earn enough to afford it.

Meanwhile, as The Keene Sentinel recently reported, state investment in certain housing initiatives fell from $55 million in the 2024-25 budget to just $10 million in 2026-27.

We've been opening doors with one hand and withdrawing the financial means to walk through them with the other.

Here in Laconia and across Belknap County, housing affordability isn't an abstract policy debate. It's about whether teachers, nurses, young families, first responders and the people who keep our local businesses running can afford to live in the communities they serve.

Yes, sensible zoning reform matters. So does private investment. But neither solves the underlying problem when construction costs, infrastructure requirements and financial realities make attainable housing extraordinarily difficult to deliver.

This isn't about Republicans or Democrats. It's about economic common sense.

As legislators prepare for the next session, perhaps the conversation should move beyond simply allowing more homes to be built and toward making sure the homes we build are within reach of the people who need them.

Because a community that cannot house its workforce may eventually discover it cannot sustain its economy.

Vanessa Saunders

Laconia