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New Hampshire
New Hampshire’s $100M Housing Investment Beginning to Pay Off – NH Journal
New Hampshire’s $100 million housing investment, InvestNH, is starting to pay off.
“InvestNH was absolutely critical in allowing more housing to be built,” said developer Jack Franks.
Franks, president and CEO of Avanru Development Group, said InvestNH’s help was key to some of his new affordable housing projects in Newport, Swanzey, and Hillsborough.
“Hillsborough would not have happened,” Franks pointed out.
Polls consistently show housing costs are a top priority for Granite Staters, and many of the state’s employers say housing is one their biggest challenges in attracting quality workers. Using federal ARPA relief funds to get more apartments and homes built, InvestNH is making a difference, though there’s still a long way to go.
“This crisis is not going to be solved overnight, but we are working with local leaders to get them the resources they need to match housing needs in their community,” said Department of Business and Economic Affairs Commissioner Taylor Caswell.
Administered by the BEA, InvestNH has already impacted more than 4,657 new housing units throughout the state, according to Caswell, with more to come.
BEA worked through InvestNH to create a capital grant program to fund the development of affordable housing; a demolition program to assist municipalities in preparing for or addressing housing challenges and project developments in older dilapidated properties; a per-unit incentive grant program that awarded municipalities $10,000 per unit of approved affordable housing, and the Housing Opportunities program, which assisted 67 communities to review and develop planning and zoning strategies to facilitate appropriate housing in their towns.
“The goal with these one-time funds has been to help accelerate affordable housing units getting to market and setting the stage for more private investment in affordable housing statewide by providing incentives and resources to local communities,” Caswell said.
BEA used InvestNH to fund: $64 million for the Capital Grant program that impacted 1,605 new units; $16.2 million for the Per Unit Grants program that impacted 1,910 units; $11.5 for the Demolition Grants program that impacted 2,302 units; and $7.9 million for the Housing Opportunity Planning Grants program that went to 67 communities throughout the state.
BEA’s new state Housing Champions program will soon be able to continue the InvestNH programs, thanks to state general funds totaling $15 million.
Even with InvestNH, New Hampshire has a vacancy rate of around 1 percent or less, according to Franks, leaving Granite Staters to pay more for rent or looking out of state for a decent home they can afford.
“It’s beyond critical mass at this point. It’s at absurdity, the amount of housing that’s needed in the state,” Franks said.
Of his three new developments, two were fully rented soon after opening. Both the Swanzey and Newport apartment projects now have waiting lists, and the Hillsborough development is taking applications now.
The biggest obstacle to building more affordable housing that Franks encounters are the sometimes redundant and contradictory local regulations that slow construction, or stymie projects altogether. Franks hopes incoming Gov. Kelly Ayotte will work to streamline those regulations and cut the red tape that make the housing crisis worse.
Ayotte told NHJournal she’s ready to help.
“Tackling New Hampshire’s housing crisis is a key priority for my administration — we need more housing for our workforce, our seniors, our families, and every community across our state,” Ayotte said. “As Governor, I’ll work to streamline the state permitting process, cut unnecessary red tape that creates barriers to construction, and bring stakeholders together to discuss how we can incentivize construction of more affordable housing while respecting local control. Working together, we’ll keep New Hampshire moving in the right direction.”
New Hampshire
Possible 2028 Democratic White House contenders weigh in on Iran with New Hampshire voters
As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran overtakes the foreign policy debate in Washington, two Democratic governors with potential 2028 presidential aspirations — Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear — recently traveled to New Hampshire, introducing themselves to the state’s famously engaged voters. The two weighed in on the war and both criticized and questioned President Trump’s strategy and endgame.
“If a president is going to take a country into war, and risk the lives of American troops and Americans in the region, he has to have a real justification and not one that seems to change every five to 10 hours,” Beshear told CBS News after a Democratic fundraiser in Keene.
“This President seems to use force before ever trying diplomacy, and he has a duty to sell it to the American people and to address Congress with it,” Beshear continued. “He hasn’t done any of that. In fact, it appears there isn’t even a plan for what success looks like. He’s gone from regime change to strategic objectives and now is talking about unconditional surrender, which isn’t realistic where he is.”
Beshear also said he thought that Congress should have reined in Mr. Trump’s war powers.
“He is trying to ignore Congress. He’s trying to even ignore the American people,” Beshear said.
He went on to note that the president’s State of the Union address took place “three — four days before he launched this attack,” and Mr. Trump “didn’t even have the respect to tell the American people the threat that he thought Iran posed to us.”
Last week, both the House and the Senate failed to pass resolutions to limit Mr. Trump’s war powers and stop him from taking further military action against Iran without congressional support.
For Newsom, the war with Iran constitutes part of a broader criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At an event last Tuesday in Los Angeles, Newsom had compared Israel to an “apartheid state.” Later, in New Hampshire, he sought to clarify his comment.
“I was specifically referring to a Tom Friedman [New York Times] column last week, where Tom used that word of apartheid as it relates to the direction Bibi is going, particularly on the annexation of the West Bank,” Newsom explained during a book tour event Thursday night in Portsmouth. “I’m very angry, with what he is doing and why he’s doing it, what he’s going to ultimately try to do to the Supreme Court there, what he’s trying to do to save his own political career.”
Friedman wrote that at the same time that the U.S. and Israel are prosecuting a war in Iran, within Israel, Netanyahu’s government has undertaken efforts to annex the West Bank, driving Palestinians from their homes; fire the attorney general who is leading the prosecution against Netanyahu for corruption; and block the government’s attempt to establish a commission to examine the failures that led up to the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Jews by Hamas.
CBS News has reached out to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.
On Iran, Newsom said, “I’m very angry about this war, with all due respect, you know, not because I’m angry the supreme leader is dead. Quite the contrary. I’m not naive about the last 37 years of his reign. Forty-seven years since ’79 — the revolution,” Newsom said. “But I’m also mindful that you have a president who still is inarticulate and incapable of giving us the rationale of why? Why now? What’s the endgame?”
Many attendees at Newsom’s book event said that the situation in Iran is a top-of-mind issue for them, too. Some said they’re “horrified” by what is happening.
29-year-old Alicia Marr told CBS News she decided to attend Newsom’s event because of his social media response to the war with Iran.
“There was one spot left, and I decided to pick it up, and it was due to his response to the war, that it is just unacceptable, and I would agree with that,” Marr said.
While some voters like Marr are eager to hear about where potential candidates stand on foreign policy, many at Newsom’s event said they care most about how potential candidates plan to address domestic issues.
“I’m more focused on getting the middle class back on track and fighting the oligarchy, and I’m less invested in international issues,” said Anita Alden, who also attended Newsom’s event,
“I wouldn’t call myself America first, but we have so many problems at home that are my priority,” she told CBS News.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who may also be weighing another White House bid, told Fox 2 Detroit last week that she “unequivocally opposes” the Trump administration’s military action in Iran and urged Congress to take action.
“If we want to stop Donald Trump with this random decision that he has arrived at, then Congress must act, and Congress must act immediately. The American people do not want our sons and daughters to go into this unauthorized war of choice,” Harris said.
Mr. Trump has lashed out against Democrats who have pushed back on his Iran strategy, calling them “losers” last week and arguing that they would criticize any decision he made on Iran.
“If I did it, it’s no good. If I didn’t do it, they would have said the opposite, that you should have done this,” the president said.
Local News
Police say the Attleboro man was driving 104 mph in a 55 mph zone on Route 202 near in Rindge, New Hampshire.
A Massachusetts man was arrested late Wednesday night after police say he was driving more than 100 mph on a New Hampshire roadway.
Officers with the Rindge Police Department stopped a vehicle shortly after 11 p.m. on Route 202 near Sears Drive in Rindge following a report of a car traveling at excessive speed, according to a statement from Chief Rachel Malynowski.
The vehicle, a 2020 Kia Stinger, was spotted traveling at 104 mph in a posted 55 mph zone, Malynowski said.
The driver, a 21-year-old man from Attleboro, was arrested and charged with reckless operation of a motor vehicle, according to police.
He is scheduled to be arraigned April 5. If convicted, the man faces a fine of at least $750, in addition to the court’s penalty assessment, and a 90-day license suspension, Malynowski said.
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