April 18 Housing Matters Newsletter

Welcome to the Housing Matters Newsletter! 

Thanks to all who have made their voices heard over the first half of the legislative session! 

This morning, we hosted our monthly Housing Matters Zoom meeting and provided a crossover update on everything that is still moving forward this legislative session. If you missed our meeting, you can view the slide deck here.

As always, if you have questions about the legislation we mention in the newsletter or housing-related proposals that aren’t included, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

If this newsletter was forwarded to you, and you want to receive future updates, you can sign up here.

Best,
Nick Taylor

Housing Action NH is now on LinkedIn! Follow our page and invite your housing friends to stay up to date on what’s happening in Concord.

House Housing Committee: Tuesday, April 22nd, LOB Room 305

The House Housing Committee has held its initial hearings on all proposals that crossed over from the Senate and were assigned to the Housing Committee. Next week a subcommittee will meet for work sessions on SB 188 (10:00 am), allowing independent permitting and inspections, and allowing local governments to authorize licensed engineers and architects to perform building code inspections, and SB 170 (1:00 pm), relative to development and related requirements in cities, towns, and municipalities.

The Senate Subcommittee on Housing will meet on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. to discuss the legislative proposals referred to the subcommittee. This includes HB 577 (ADUs), HB 631 (Homes Near Jobs), HB 685 (Manufactured Housing), and more.

The House of Representatives will next convene for session at the call of the Speaker (likely May 1).

The Senate will next convene for session at the call of the Senate President.

The House did not meet for session this week.

The Senate met for a brief session, but there were no key housing bills.

Registration is now open for the New Hampshire Office of Planning and Development (OPD) Spring 2025 Planning and Zoning Conference on May 10.

The conference is a free, full day online conference on Saturday, May 10 from 8:45 am to 3:30 pm.  

The conference will have three tracks: Planning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment, and Historic Preservation and Housing.

For additional conference details, including the agenda outlining each session by track and registration instructions, please see the 2025 Planning and Zoning Conference webpage.

(WMUR) CONCORD, N.H. — It is the top issue for New Hampshire voters, but New Hampshire lawmakers are in a big fight over what to do about affordable housing.

Lawmakers in Concord are debating a bill to overhaul local housing and zoning regulations.

“This bill will do more, in my opinion, to bring down the cost of housing in our state than any other single bill we will deal with,” said state Sen. Keith Murphy, R-Manchester.

Murphy was making the case for his bill, Senate Bill 84, which would cap maximum lot sizes for single-family residential homes. The legislation includes accommodations for infrastructure and environmental concerns, while aiming to increase housing density and affordability.