FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                         Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Contact: Senator Martha Fuller Clark

(603) 271-6933

WORKFORCE HOUSING BILL ADVANCES TO GOVERNOR

CONCORD – The Senate agreed to some improvements by the House to a bill to encourage more low- and moderate-income housing for working people. The Senate’s concurrence today sends the bill to the governor.

“We have been working for years to pass this kind of legislation to remove barriers that have made it difficult to expand the availability of workforce housing. This bill is long overdue and we should all be proud of its passage,” said Senator Martha Fuller Clark (D-Portsmouth), prime sponsor of Senate Bill 342.

Senate Bill 342 embraces a major goal of the state’s Business and Industry Association, which identified expanded opportunities for workforce housing as a top priority this year.

“The lack of varied housing poses a threat to our state’s economy by making it difficult to expand our workforce or attract new businesses. Our workers are the backbone of our economy and we need to ensure they have decent and affordable options for housing,” said Senate President Sylvia Larsen (D-Concord).

The legislation clarifies existing law requiring municipalities to provide reasonable opportunities for the development of workforce housing. It also recognizes communities that have already provided their fair share of workforce housing.

Senate Bill 342 also creates a new and expedited appeal process for developers to challenge the decisions of planning or zoning boards that unfairly deny a project that would include moderately-priced housing for working families

Affordable housing advocates say developers don’t want to take on the expense of a time-consuming court challenge and instead limit any projects that include workforce housing to communities that will accept them – putting an unfair burden on certain municipalities when workforce housing opportunities need to be spread throughout the state.