Housing Champions repeal pits Legislature against governor

According to housing advocate groups, the champions program is doing exactly what it set out to do: reward communities that are taking steps to build more housing

Gov. Kelly Ayotte and her Republican brethren in the New Hampshire Legislature could be on a collision course over the future of the state’s Housing Champions program.

Some Republicans in the Legislature want to erase the initiative, which, though currently unfunded in the current state budget, still exists as law and as a functioning program within the NH Department of Business and Economic Affairs.

Ayotte wants the program preserved, saying recently of the legislative effort, “No, I don’t support that.”

The House voted 185-166 on Feb. 5 to support HB 1196, which repeals the Housing Champions Program, adopted by the Legislature in 2023 and signed into law by then Gov. Christopher Sununu as a way to financially incentivize communities to find ways to create much-needed housing.

Incentives came in the form of grants so that communities could, for example, improve water and sewer lines to make residential housing development more appealing and more affordable in areas where the infrastructure was lacking. Funds are also made available for workforce housing efforts and master plan/zoning refinement.

Though currently unfunded in Ayotte’s fiscal year 2026-27 state budget, the program was still operating with some $5 million remaining from previous funding.

Repeal of the program leaves unanswered what happens to the money. The legislation itself notes that “it is unclear whether the intent is to repeal the fund yet allow obligated funds to be paid, approximately $2,600,000, or to repeal the fund entirely and have all remaining funds lapse to the General Fund, approximately $3,000,000.”

The House vote from Feb. 5 refers the bill to the House Ways and Means Committee in an attempt for more clarity on that point — let the remaining funding continue or claw it back to the General Fund.

The author of the repeal legislation — state Rep. Matt Drew, R-Manchester — has called Housing Champions “a bad program. We can’t afford it, and we should end it.”

At a January hearing on the bill, he said, “The Housing Champion Program is not a subsidy, as I originally thought when I started researching this bill. It’s worse. It’s a subsidy subsidy — a state-funded incentive to get cities and towns to subsidize politically favored projects.”

Ayotte wants the program retained, and she made her case during a recent WMUR-TV interview, which occurred just days after her State-of-the-State address in which she championed the state’s efforts to address its housing crisis.

She held out hope that she might be able to return funding to the program in the next state budget.

“I don’t think we should repeal this program,” she said. “Even the designation is important to communities, and it’s a program that I would hope, as we look at the next budget, I would continue.”

According to Housing Action NH, the champions program is doing exactly what it set out to do: reward communities that are taking steps to build more housing.

“It is disappointing that state lawmakers would change course and remove tools from our toolbox that are working to address our state’s housing crisis,” said Nick Taylor, executive director of the nonprofit housing advocacy group. “Ensuring every Granite Stater has a place to call home requires smart, targeted investments – like the Housing Champions Program – and regulatory reform.”

According to Housing Action, Housing Champion communities are permitting new homes at a higher rate than non-Housing Champion communities. In 2024, the 28 Housing Champion communities approved 2,643 units, or 45% of the total units approved statewide.

Current Housing Champion communities include: Boscawen, Concord, Derry, Dover, Enfield, Exeter, Farmington, Gorham, Hampton, Hillsborough, Hinsdale, Hooksett, Jaffrey, Keene, Lebanon, Lincoln, Manchester, Meredith, Nashua, New London, Newmarket, Newport, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Rochester, Rye, Salem and Somersworth.

“These communities are permitting new homes at a higher rate than non-Housing Champion communities and are making long-term regulatory changes that will continue to benefit the state of New Hampshire and its people for years to come,” said Taylor.

Production grants totaling $1.5 million helped the following communities create new workforce housing:

• Manchester: 51 housing units, $205,500
• Nashua: 206 housing units, $828,000
• Salem: 74 housing units, $297,000
• Newport: 42 housing units

Water, sewer, electrical and fire suppression upgrades worth $3.5 million went to the following communities:

• Concord: sewer upgrade, $859,689
• Dover: water main upgrade, $859,689
• Lebanon: site improvements, $158,805
• Manchester: fire/electric, $116,753
• Newport: sewer feasibility, $234,375
• Rochester: sewer/water, $411,000
• Salem: water system, $859,689

A BEA report to the governor and Legislature about the program’s progress in 2025 noted it “provides a structured, results-oriented approach to housing readiness in New Hampshire. By pairing regulatory reform with infrastructure investment and production incentives, the program supports municipalities responding to workforce housing demand in ways consistent with local character and long-term economic development goals.”

Submitted by James Key-Wallace, interim BEA commissioner on Jan. 30, the report says the program “demonstrates that coordinated state and local action can improve housing conditions while preserving municipal autonomy and planning integrity.”

As for its future hopes, the BEA said it had the following priorities:

• Increasing geographic participation statewide.
• Aligning state infrastructure investment with emerging housing markets.
• Strengthening local planning capacity.
• Leveraging municipal reform to attract private housing investment.