It’s been a year of changes for housing in New Hampshire.
The legislature took aim at what lawmakers considered restrictive land use regulations that have been a persistent obstacle for developers trying to add new housing to local communities. Housing Action New Hampshire director Nick Taylor said that hiring workers to fill jobs has been a persistent challenge, as those employees often cannot find housing near where they work.
“Either people end up turning down the job or they’ll be commuting hours each way,” said Taylor.
Following the publication of the NH Statewide Housing Needs Assessment, the legislature worked on bills to pave the way for more development.
“These bills are a win for New Hampshire families and businesses,” Taylor said. “They make it easier for Granite Staters to create attainable homes on their own property, revitalize aging strip malls and office buildings, cut through burdensome red tape, and streamline the approval process.”
Here is an update on key housing bills signed into law this summer:
Zoning and land use policies
HB 457: This bill prohibits local governments from restricting the number of occupants of any dwelling unit to only one person. Each municipality must allow two under the new law.
HB 631: One of the key initiatives would now require governments to permit the construction of multi-family residential units on commercially zoned land, with a few restrictions. It enables development in spaces that already have infrastructure to reduce the cost of construction and increase the chances of people living in close proximity to their work.
SB 284: Another major change reduces parking space requirements to make housing development easier. Cities and towns cannot require more than one parking space per unit.
“Limited parking requirements don’t lead to no parking. It just leads to the right size parking,” said Taylor.
HB 296: The bill creates a new pathway for land use boards to authorize construction along private roads, removes the zoning board of adjustment’s discretion for determining when to take an appeal and replaces it with a non-discretionary 30-day period.
SB 281: Municipalities can no longer block individuals from building on properties adjacent to class VI roads, as long as the landowner formally accepts responsibility for the road and shows that the property is insurable. “What this bill was doing was opening up more opportunity, where there could be housing development, where it would make sense, and where their health and safety could still be met,” said Taylor.
Building Code and Inspection reforms
HB 413: This extends the five-year exemption for approved projects to seven years and increases the preliminary step from two to three years. This bill also changes the building and fire code appeals process, limiting the jurisdiction of the local building code board of appeals to decisions made at the local level. “It’s essentially allowing for more time to complete existing approved projects,” said Taylor.
SB 282: Residential buildings up to four floors now only need one stairway. According to Taylor, this bill will make development easier and more affordable, while diversifying the types of multi-family homes that can be built. “A lot of our building code, the way it exists currently, you need those two staircases. And that’s why we get these big, boxy rectangles, basically because you need two staircases, and you need to have X amount of feet between the two staircases,” said Taylor. “This is aimed at aligning the fire code and the building code together so that you allow for those sorts of more narrow, single-staircase buildings.” Taylor said SB 282 is the second half of the equation for mixed-use buildings. While HB 631 gives permission for the mixture of commercial and residential in a single building, SB 282, through reducing the number of required staircases, will enable different types of buildings to be constructed.
Accessory dwelling units
HB 577: Another policy target was to loosen restrictions on accessory dwelling units. Changes to state law in 2016 only permitted units that are attached to homes, and they had to include an interior door connecting the principal home to the attached one. The new law allows for units to be constructed separately on a property, and increases the maximum square footage to 950 square feet.
SB 188: Licensed private companies will now be authorized to inspect buildings and certify that documents are in compliance with applicable building and other codes. “The biggest area where this would show up is in more rural communities where they may not have full-time staff working as building inspectors, or you may have one individual who’s working for five or six municipalities on a contract,” said Taylor. The goal is to “allow for some flexibility without compromising on safety.”
Environmental permitting and development
SB 110: The law requires the department of environmental services to establish a standardized permit system for smaller projects under 150,000 square feet when applying for terrain alteration. All projects now have to pay a fee when applying.
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Taylor is optimistic about these recent changes to New Hampshire housing law.
“While our work is not done, these bills represent common-sense steps that make meaningful progress toward addressing our housing shortage,” said Taylor. “This is progress.”
