Housing Resources

This page provides information about housing-related technical assistance programs, grants, and data as well as a list of tools to incentivize the development of additional housing.

Accessory Dwelling Unit Law / Workforce Housing Law / Workforce Housing Case Law / What Does Workforce Housing Look Like in New Hampshire? / Housing/Land Use Regulation Reports & Studies / Organizations Providing Housing Resources, Grants, and Technical Assistance / NH Communities Utilizing Zoning Tools to Incentivize Housing Development / Grant Opportunities to Develop & Implement Housed-Related Zoning Changes / Housing Types / Housing-Related Presentations / Housing Commissions| Manufactured Housing / Multi-Family /

Resources For Increasing Housing Opportunities in New Hampshire

Accessory Dwelling Unit Law

Planning for Accessory Dwellings - This page contains information and resources about the state’s Accessory Dwelling Unit statute, RSA 674:71-73, which went into effect on June 1, 2017

Workforce Housing Law
Resources about the state’s Workforce Housing statute, RSA 674:58-61, which has been in effect since July 1, 2009

Legal Q&A: What Municipalities Need To Know About “Workforce Housing” (NHMA, Town & City Magazine, September/October 2019)
Workforce Housing Law Summary (NHHFA, May 2019)
Housing Solutions for New Hampshire (NHHFA, April 2019) - this handbook focuses on the range of tools and techniques that can be employed at the local level including sample municipal regulations, that demonstrate methods for communities to provide workforce housing development opportunities.
Meeting the Workforce Housing Challenge: A Guidebook for New Hampshire Municipalities (NHHFA, June 2010) - this guidebook is available to help local land use boards to address the requirements of the workforce housing statute
Workforce Housing Quick Reference Guide (NHHFA, May 2010)

What does Workforce Housing Look Like in New Hampshire?

Gile Hill Condominiums, developed by the Twin Pines Housing Trust in Hanover
Building Great Neighborhoods are a portfolio of affordable housing properties developed by NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire in Southern New Hampshire
CATCH Neighborhood Housing has developed affordable and workforce housing throughout the Concord area
Great Bridge Properties has developed "high quality housing for low and moderate income families and seniors in housing markets with critical shortages…" in the Mount Washington Valley and Southern New Hampshire.
Pepperidge Woods, developed by the NH Community Loan Fund, provides affordable energy star manufactured homes in Barrington, NH
The Housing Partnership has built numerous housing developments which provide "housing for everyone" in New Hampshire’s Seacoast Region.

Housing/Land Use Regulation Reports & Studies

Housing Opportunity Planning Grants Program: Selected Case Studies, (New Hampshire Housing, January 2025)
From Homes to Classrooms: The Relationship Between Housing Development and School Enrollment in New Hampshire (New Hampshire Housing, September 2024)
Residential Land Use Regulations in NH: Causes and Consequences (The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, October 2021)
The State of Local Land Use Regulations in New Hampshire – 2023 Update (NH OPD, November 2024)
New Hampshire State-wide Land Valuation Analysis (New Hampshire Housing, Urban3, October 15, 2020)
Communities & Consequences II: Rebalancing New Hampshire’s Human Ecology (PBS, October 13, 2020) – This is a sequel project to the 2008 award-winning Communities and Consequences: The Unbalancing of New Hampshire’s Human Ecology. This new film, book, web, and community outreach project explores the economic and social realities of workforce shortages in New Hampshire - the nation’s second oldest state in terms of median age.
Recommendations and Plan to Address New Hampshire’s Housing Shortage (Governor’s Workforce Housing Taskforce, October 30, 2019)
Will More Kids in Town Raise the Local Tax Rate? (A Report to the New Hampshire Association of Realtors, Richard England, August 2019)
Affordable Single-Family Housing Study (NHHFA, August 2018)
HUD Regulatory Barriers Clearinghouse

Organizations in New Hampshire Providing Housing Resources, Grants, and Technical Assistance

AARP New Hampshire
- Age-Friendly Communities Network – network of communities focused on making communities livable for persons of all ages and ensuring persons can age in place
- Housing Action NH – statewide housing policy advocacy organization
- NH Housing Finance Authority (NH Housing) – quasi state entity charged with promoting, financing and supporting affordable housing and related services in New Hampshire
  - Frequently Used Housing Terms & Definitions
  - Reports and Publications
- NH Office of Planning and Development
  - Municipal Land Use Regulation Survey
  - Current Estimates and Trends in New Hampshire's Housing Supply – annual report detailing housing units permitted by municipality (2023)
- Norther Border Regional Commission - federal-state partnership for economic and community development in northern NH, ME, VT, and NY providing funds for critical economic and community development projects throughout the northeast.
- Plan New Hampshire – statewide smart growth organization
- Regional Housing Coalitions
- Regional Planning Commissions
  - North County Housing Needs Analysis - Joint NH Housing and North Country Council study of housing needs in Coos County completed in June 2021
  - Keys to the Valley Initiative – Joint NH-VT Regional Planning Commission Initiative to address the housing shortage in the Upper Valley, completed in Spring 2021
  - Housing Needs Assessment For the Nashua Region - Housing Needs Assessment completed in December 2019 by the Nashua Regional Planning Commission
  - NH Housing Toolbox – The New Hampshire Housing Toolbox is a collaborative effort by the Nashua Regional Planning Commission together with several other partners that compiles and describes many of the tools available to New Hampshire cities and towns to produce more housing, especially more housing that is aligned with community needs.
- Saint Anselm College Center for Ethics in Business & Governance
  - Housing We Need Initiative
- UNH Cooperative Extension

NH Communities Utilizing Zoning Tools to Incentivize Housing Development

The Municipal Land Use Regulation Annual Survey provides data on municipalities who employ different zoning tools to incentivize housing.

Grant Opportunities to Develop & Implement Housing-Related Zoning Changes

Codes for Communities – Program of the Form Based Code Institute offering advice and guidance on form-based codes and zoning reform
National Association of Realtors Land Use Initiative – Assists communities with analyzing and updating land use regulations
InvestNH Municipal Planning & Zoning Grants [AS1] - grants to municipalities to analyze and update their land use regulations to help increase housing development opportunities.

Housing Types

Missing Middle Housing – describes nine housing types that constitute Missing Middle Housing as defined by Opticos Design

Housing-Related Presentations

The Role of Housing in Your Community (OPD 25th Annual Spring Planning & Zoning Conference, June 1, 2019)
Workforce Housing Law 10-Year Retrospective (New Hampshire Planners Association, 2020 Spring Conference, June 24, 2020)
Missing Middle Housing: Thinking Big and Building Small to Respond to Today’s Housing Crisis (Planetizen, July 28, 2020)
Building the Cities of the Future: More Markets or More Regulation? (St. Anselm College Center for Ethics in Business & Governance, Housing We Need Initiative, August 10, 2020)
From the Outskirts to Downtown: Taxes, Land Use & Value in 15 New Hampshire Communities (New Hampshire Housing, Urban3, October 15, 2020)
New Resources for Bringing Housing To Your Community (NHMA Annual Conference, November 18, 2020)
The Role of the Municipality in Housing (Mount Washington Valley Housing Coalition, October 22, 2021)

Housing Commissions

Housing Commissions in New Hampshire: A guide for Municipalities (NH Housing)
Appointments and terms of Housing Commission members (RSA 673:4-c)
Powers and Duties of a Housing Commission
- Purpose - RSA 674:44-h
- Powers - RSA 674:44-i
- Appropriations Authorized - RSA 674:44-j

Manufactured Housing

Multi-Family

There are multiple definitions of "multi-family" in state statute ranging from a minimum of 2 to 5 units, which are specific to different programs/regulations:
- RSA 674:43, I - a municipality, having adopted a zoning ordinance as provided in RSA 674:16, and where the planning board has adopted subdivision regulations as provided in RSA 674:36, may by ordinance or resolution further authorize the planning board to require preliminary review of site plans and to review and approve or disapprove site plans for the development or change or expansion of use of tracts for nonresidential uses or for multi-family dwelling units, which are defined as any structures containing more than 2 dwelling units, whether or not such development includes a subdivision or resubdivision of the site.
- RSA 674:58, II - "Multi-family housing" for the purpose of workforce housing developments, means a building or structure containing 5 or more dwelling units, each designed for occupancy by an individual household.
- RSA 204-C:1, XXII - "Multi-family housing" shall mean housing consisting of 5 or more units for NHHFA related programs.
- RSA 354-A:2, III - The NH State Commission for Human Rights defines "Covered multifamily dwellings" as:
- (a) Buildings consisting of 4 or more units if such buildings have one or more elevators; and
- (b) Ground floor units in other buildings consisting of 4 or more units.