Hassan: ‘Housing in New Hampshire is a real challenge,’ following tour of new Main Street housing development

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U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (left) with Jennifer Vadney and Logan Johnson of NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire (NWSNH) in front of the 249 Main Street project on Main Street in Nashua. Photo/ Dan Splaine Photography

NASHUA, NH – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) toured the recently built apartment complex on 249 Main Street in Nashua on Friday. She was given a tour of the nearly complete project by NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire  (NWSNH) Neighborhood Development  Director, Jennifer Vadney and Neighborhood Development Project Manager, Logan Johnson. NHSNH is the developer of the project.

NWSNH is a community organization that develops new affordable rental units and provides financial education and support for first-time homebuyers. They worked with the Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA) and New Hampshire Housing to develop the Main Street project.

There are 34 apartments in the new complex at 249 Main, 19 are one-bedroom and 26 are two-bedroom units. The six-story building has elevator service, a courtyard, a community room, and on-site laundry facilities. Each unit includes utilities and one parking spot, which are included in the rent.   Rents include a combination of subsidized and 11 market-rate units. Subsidies for low-income tenants are calculated as a percentage of AMI (Area Median Income).

Stewart Property Management is the building’s leasing and management company. Final details and inspections are pending to get a certificate of occupancy. Nashua’s tight housing market makes for high demand and there is an abundance of interested tenant applicants.

“They are working through the file of applicants, we probably have got half the building filled, already to move in as soon as we say yes,” said Vadney.

(From left) Logan Johnson Neighborhood Development Project Manager, U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan, and Jennifer Vadney Neighborhood Development Director in the courtyard of the 249 Main Street apartment complex in Nashua, NH. Photo/ Dan Splaine Photography

 “One, people need a place to live but it has to be affordable. Right now when I talk to young people they really worry about whether they will ever be able to afford not just a rental on their own but to buy a house,” Hassan said.

“Housing in New Hampshire is a real challenge. We have a real shortage and it is the thing I hear most about from people. Those who haven’t been able to find and affordable place to live at all to people who are relatively high-income earners but they can’t actually find a place even at the full market for rent or purchase. And I hear about it from employers, said Hassan.

“Fundamentally people need a safe and comfortable place to call home and that is foundational for everything else,” she said. “At the Federal level, we have been trying to increase the amount of low-income tax credits, LITAC credits which are the foundation of affordable housing financing.”

Housing is an issue for all NH communities both urban and rural.

“Trying to make sure we have a fit for all of our communities. LITAC works well for Nashua, for Manchester but might not work as well just because of the volume of units you tend to support in one fell swoop in some of our smaller communities . We need a mix to really address this,” Hassan said.

Hassan expressed some optimism about the response to the housing shortage this way, “The good news is for the first time in my public life whether in the state Senate the Statehouse and now in the US Senate the bipartisan concern for this issue is large.  There is just much, much more bipartisan focus on it because my colleagues from other parts of the country are hearing about the same issues.  They are not all as exacerbated as New Hampshire at the moment, but there is a renewed focus on the need to get affordable housing built in this country.”