The legislative debate over housing is far from over despite recent passage of a bill creating the state’s new Housing Appeals Board.

Preliminary bills filed at the State House in Concord indicate lawmakers will be dealing with a wide variety of housing-related issues in the coming legislative session, from a task force’s recommendations on how to boost housing construction to a proposal to create a new docket at Superior Court to exclusively handle land-use disputes.

But the biggest battle at the Capitol may well be over further attempts to eliminate the new Housing Appeals Board (HAB), created by legislation backed by Gov. Chris Sununu in 2019 and implemented only last year. The fight over HAB is expected to pit housing advocates and business groups hoping to spur more housing construction against those who believe the new board infringes on local authority.

No matter how lawmakers come down on various housing bills, State House observers say the rash of land-use bills indicates housing has now become an almost perennial “top tier” issue in Concord, along with legislation dealing with health care, education and spending in general.

“The debate over housing will continue to be on the front-burner,” said Trevor Brown, an attorney who handles land-use litigation for Sulloway & Hollis in Concord. “The Housing Appeals Board, along with funding for work-place housing and other issues, will be hot topics for a while.”

Housing Costs Keep Upward Spiral

The push for new housing comes as home prices and rents continue to skyrocket in New Hampshire, as they are in many other states, and amid concerns the high costs could harm the state’s ability to attract and keep talented workers in the Granite State.

Indeed, recent data from The Warren Group, publisher of the Registry Review, shows no let up this year in the surge in prices, with single-family home prices increasing in Hillsborough County by 20 percent through the first eight months of this year, compared to the same period in 2020. Other more densely populated counties are seeing steep price increases too, including Merrimack County (up 18 percent) and Rockingham County (up 16 percent).

The state’s less densely populated counties are seeing even higher price spikes, such as Coos County (up 26 percent) and Sullivan County (up 25 percent), according to Warren Group data.

In the past, housing advocates have estimated that the state needs about 20,000 new housing units, mostly for middle-class and working-class residents, just to stabilize the real estate market.

According to preliminary “title bills” filed at the State House and awaiting final wording, advocates plan to push once again for legislation that would implement key recommendations from Sununu’s Task Force on Housing. A similar bill stalled last year in the General Assembly.

David Juvet, interim president of the Business & Industry Association of New Hampshire, said one of the task force’s recommendations has to do with the training of local zoning and planning board members on what they can and can’t do when it comes to development issues in their communities.

“Many times, they’re not trained in land-use and housing regulations,” said Juvet. “Decision are being made that conflict with housing laws. Sometimes unreasonable obstacles are passed that harm construction.”

And that touches on the thorny issue of local governance.

Appeals Board Seen as Vital

A recent report from the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy laid most blame for the current housing shortage on local land-use regulations that limit the building of new housing, such as minimal lot sizes, frontage setbacks, density restrictions, maximum heights of buildings and minimum parking requirements.

Defenders of local restrictions say towns and cities are just trying to preserve the character of their communities, limit traffic congestion and avoid over-enrollment in schools.

“It really comes down to local control,” said Josh Reap, chief executive and president of the Associated Builders and Contractors of New Hampshire. “Rules created by one generation have led to outpricing the middle class. There are so many outmoded zoning rules in New Hampshire.”

That’s the main stated reason why backers pushed for creation of the Housing Appeals Board – to settle disputes about what’s legal and not legal when it comes to housing-development issues at the local level.

This past spring, the Housing Appeals Board issued its first decision, effectively overruling the Francestown Planning Board’s rejection of a four-lot subdivision in the Hillsborough County town west of Manchester.

Since that ruling, the board has acted on about eight other cases, the majority of them against earlier town actions, according to officials.

Even before the board’s recent decisions, opponents last legislative session were out to kill HAB – and they failed. Most are bracing for a renewed repeal attempt in the coming legislative session.

“An attack on the Housing Appeals Board is unquestionably something to anticipate,” said Ben Frost, managing director of policy and public affairs at the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority.

Bill Would Add Court Housing Experts

One preliminary bill filed at the State House is raising eyebrows in Concord: Legislation calling for creation of a new docket within the Superior Courts just to handle land-use disputes. Some privately worry the legislation, sponsored by state Rep. Robert Lynn, R-Windham, could have the effect of watering down the authority of the Housing Appeals Board.

But Lynn, the retired chief justice of the state’s Supreme Court, said his bill is not anti-HAB. Instead, a new court housing docket would complement, not replace, the efforts of the Housing Appeals Board.

Currently, those who disagree with local land-use decisions have the option of either appealing to HAB or Superior Court, Lynn said. Creating a new court docket, with specific judges handling most land-use cases, would add another layer of expertise in zoning and building regulations, he said.

“I’m not an opponent of the Housing Appeals Board,” he said. “I think we should let it play out and see how it works. I think the board can work.”

He noted there are Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the debate over the Housing Appeals Board.

“I tend to come down on the side that there are too many restrictions on developers. But I don’t think we should open the [development] floodgates too far.”