There’s No Place Like Home

Posted by Susy Thielen on May 17th, 2010 — in Housing News, Monadnock Region Coalition

Communities work to meet workforce housing standards

By Casey Farrar
Sentinel Staff
Published: Monday, May 17, 2010
It started with a Hanover church group looking for affordable housing for a refugee family from the Middle East.

Now, by the time an affordable housing development in Hanover is finished later this year, it will boast 120 new homes for working families in the Upper Valley.

The Gile Hill condominium project, which took more than seven years of work to secure financing and permits, is the largest workforce housing development in the state.

Much of the heavy lifting for the project was done by the Hanover Affordable Housing Commission, a group formed by the town’s board of selectmen after local residents pushed for more affordable housing, said Len Cadwallader, who is a member of the group.

It’s a model that members of a Monadnock Region workforce housing coalition are hoping communities in this region will look to as they try to increase the amount of affordable places for families.

Last week, Heading for Home — a nonprofit collective of individuals, businesses and social services agencies — hosted a forum at Keene State College on municipal housing commissions. Read the rest of this page »

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Housing Commission Workshop

Posted by Susy Thielen on May 5th, 2010 — in Housing News, Monadnock Region Coalition

Please join us for New Hampshire’s first Housing Commission Workshop, Thursday, May 13, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Room 101 Putnam Science Center, Keene State College, Keene.

Partners: Heading for Home, Southwest Region Planning Commission, New Hampshire Housing

Panelists: From the Hanover Affordable Housing Commission, Len Cadwallader, Executive Director, Vital Communities, White River Junction, VT. From NH Housing, George Reagan, Administrator, Housing Awareness Program and Ben Frost, Director of Public Affairs.

The panelists will present a variety of information that will give participants a better understanding of how a community can benefit by the establishment of a local housing commission. The first half of the program will include lessons learned in creating a housing commission by the Hanover Affordable Housing Commission, an overview of the new Housing Commission Workbook developed by New Hampshire Housing and a summary of potential legal and tax implications for municipalities. The second half of the program will be a facilitated question and answer session focused on the formation of a housing commission.

Registration: There will be a buffet at 5:30 p.m. with the program from 6-7:30 p.m. There is no charge to attend this workshop, but pre-registration is required. To register for this event or for additional information, please contact Lisa Murphy at (603) 357-0557, lmurphy@swrpc.org or Susy Thielen of Heading for Home at susyt@headingforhome.org. Please register no later than 5:00 p.m., May 11, 2010.

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