Gov. Kelly Ayotte says the state should use “creative ways” to create more housing in New Hampshire – like leasing out unused state land to developers.

Speaking to NH Housing’s annual conference March 18, Ayotte said leasing could offer developers a more affordable alternative than following the requirement that municipalities get right of first refusal over state land being sold, the traditional process by which the state disposes of surplus properties.

“It’s something that we’ve talked about for a while and that is: what the state owns in terms of property,” Ayotte said, according to the New Hampshire Business Review. “We’ve been looking at that issue in my office, and looking at creative ways, not just what do we own, but what are appropriate pieces that we’re not utilizing and we don’t need as a state.”

Ayotte told attendees at the NH Housing conference that adding new housing would be key to growing the state’s economy.