Sununu Housing Plan Stalls

A bipartisan plan to help the state solve its housing production shortfalls never made it out of the House as the legislative session closed earlier this month. 

 Gov. Chris Sununu launched the plan last October with a State House press conference featuring prominent Republican and Democratic legislators, and three of the four components of the initiative passed the house by comfortable, bipartisan margins, and the House Ways and Means Committee backed the fourth unanimously. 

However, legislators were unable to agree on rules changes needed to send the four measures to the Senate. 

Sununu’s plan was based on recommendations from a bipartisan task force on the state’s housing shortage. The bills passed this session included a requirement for towns to provide incentives – in the form of increased density or fast-tracked approval processes – for senior housing and another intended to discourage frivolous appeals of land use board decisions.