Affordable Housing

According to the 2022 Residential Rental Cost Survey Report from the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority:

• Average rental rates for a two-bedroom unit in the region range from $1,572 in Strafford County to $1,708 in Rockingham County. 

• Using the affordability threshold of 30% (including utilities), a household would need to earn more than $62,900 per year in Strafford County and $68,300 in Rockingham County in order to have these rents considered affordable. 

• Conversely, the average rental household income in those same counties is $48,828 and $56,948, which would place affordability at $1,246 and $1,424 respectively. 

• Nearly half of all renter households in the region are considered “housing cost burdened” (paying more than 30% of income for rent and utilities), which disproportionately affects those with far lower or fixed incomes.

• Both driving and exacerbating the housing affordability crisis, vacancy rates for two-bedroom apartments hover around 0.4% in Rockingham County and 0.9% in Strafford County. 

• The housing shortage is creating a competitive market where potential tenants vying for available units are subject to a high level of scrutiny. This can be disadvantageous to individuals and families with less than perfect credit, or who may be trying to exit the shelter system to permanent housing as a result of the stigma associated with homelessness.

Together though, we can create incentives in both the public and private sector to diversify housing stock, to provide everyone with an opportunity for stable housing that includes supportive services for those with high needs, and we can commit to advocating for the sustained, long term investment in housing development.