11/21/25: Housing Matters Newsletter

We’re so excited to announce our 2025 Home Matters Awardees! While there is still so much more work to do, these individuals and organizations are making a difference.

Advocate of the Year: Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire

Ben Frost Award for Excellent Leadership on Housing Policy: Elissa Margolin

Legislator of the Year Award: Senator Keith Murphy

Legislator of the Year Award: Representative David Paige

Media Award: NH Has Issues Podcast hosted by Liz Canada

Media Award: NH Uncharted Podcast hosted by the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute

The awardees will be recognized at a reception on Wednesday, December 3rd, from 5:00 to 6:30 pm at Arts Alley in Concord. The reception will include great conversation and community, along with light appetizers and drinks. You can RSVP here.

Special thank you to our presenting sponsor, Evernorth, and event sponsors, Lighthouse Credit Union, AARP, and Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston.

It was great to see many of you at our virtual monthly Housing Matters Meeting this morning. If you missed the meeting, here’s the slide deck we reviewed. You can sign up for future Housing Matters Zoom meetings here. We typically meet at 10:00 on the third Friday of every month.

There will be no newsletter next Friday. We wish you and your loved ones a very happy Thanksgiving!

If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive future updates, you can sign up here.

Best,

Nick Taylor

Executive Director

Housing Action NH

nick@housingactionnh.org

Supportive Housing Programs At Risk

Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released an updated Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program, which includes significant policy changes and a funding deadline of only two months away. The CoC program serves as the foundational structure for providing homeless services nationwide. In New Hampshire, we have three CoCs (Manchester, Nashua, and Balance of State). The most significant change in this NOFO is that no more than 30 percent of funding can be used for permanent supportive housing.

Permanent supportive housing is critical to reducing homelessness because it provides long-term stability and support services for vulnerable populations who often otherwise would be in emergency shelters or outside.

In New Hampshire, approximately 70-75 percent of CoC funds are used for permanent supportive housing. If these permanent supportive housing units are discontinued, we will lose a major tool in our toolbox for addressing homelessness.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness publishes resources to help with education and advocacy:

• Act Now Federal Outreach: We are in touch with New Hampshire’s federal delegation and they are concerned about the impacts of these changes. The act now link provides talking points, follow-up information, and a link to reach out to our delegation to let them know you are concerned, too.
• How Delays Will Impact Local and State Governments: This blog post from the National Alliance to End Homelessness outlines the potential impact on state and local governments. The post was written before the new NOFO was released; however, the challenges of reworking a system and temporarily cutting off funding still remain.
• CoC Advocacy Guide: This is a comprehensive advocacy guide for FY25 that outlines key benefits and strategies for talking about the Continuum of Care system.
• Side-by-Side Comparison: This is a side-by-side comparison of the recent NOFO changes.

State House Updates

The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) continues to release 2026 bills on a rolling basis after the prime sponsor formally approves them. Prior to OLS releasing the final bill language, we only have a public list of Legislative Service Request (LSRs) titles. That list is available on the NH General Court website. As the language is released, the LSRs will be assigned a bill number, and the legislative language will be linked under that number.

State Senators are allowed to file bills confidentially, so we won’t see the complete list of Senate bills until later this year. The State Senate deadline to sign off on draft legislative language passed last week, and the House deadline is today.

If you missed our bill spotlight last week, you can view it here. Over the next few weeks, we’ll continue to spotlight newly released bills.

Department of Business and Economic Affairs 2025 Legislative Changes Guide

The Office of Planning and Development at the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs recently released its guide for municipalities implementing the 2025 legislative changes.

You can check out the full guide here, and a more detailed guide related to the accessory dwelling unit changes here.

As we’ve said at many events over the last few months, passing the laws is just the first step. It’s critical that housing advocates support implementation efforts. We do this work so that more Granite Staters will have an affordable roof over their heads. That only happens when the homes are built.

Upcoming Events

Friday, December 12: The Initiative for Housing Policy and Practice invites you to the 2025 Housing We Need Forum.

This year’s theme, “Supply Unlocked: Levers for Housing Growth,” explores the most effective strategies driving housing development today. The featured speaker, Mike Kingsella, is the CEO of Up for Growth, a national coalition advancing pro-housing policy solutions.

Location: NH Institute of Politics, Saint Anselm College

Date: Friday, December 12, 2025

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Register Here

Celebrate Pro-Homes Leaders!

On Wednesday, December 3, from 5:00 – 6:30 pm, Housing Action NH will recognize leaders in the pro-homes movement with our annual Home Matters Awards.

There are sponsorships available. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions: nick@housingactionnh.org.

Location: Arts Alley, 20 S Main Street, Concord, NH

Date: Wednesday, December 3

Time: 5:00 – 6:30 PM