There are many factors that affect the housing crisis in the United States in general, and New Hampshire in particular. Persistent inflation, caused in varying degrees by Covid stimulus, US tax policy, tariffs, labor shortages, and an ever-shifting financial regulatory regime has increased the costs of all phases of home building. Add to that, restrictive local zoning rules requiring increased lot sizes and limiting the number of units developers can build out, and conditions are ripe for a housing market that freezes out young, first-time home buyers and empty-nesters looking to downsize. Finally, due to an overemphasis on four-year college education for our rising high school seniors, a lack of skilled tradespeople rounds out the trifecta of cost disincentives for potential builders.
While there may not be much that we can do to affect inflationary pressures which occur from the actions of the federal government and the financial markets, we should be exploring every possibility to promote a robust housing market, like promoting trade schools as an alternative to four-year colleges, providing community college education to help newly-qualified tradespeople run their small businesses successfully. We should promote, through tax policies, rebates, grants and other incentives, local review of zoning ordinances which may be hindering development. State grants and tax incentives for master and journeyman tradespeople to encourage apprenticeship programs would be a solid investment in a future for first-time home buyers.