"Last year, New Hampshire lawmakers jumped on the bandwagon of state legislatures targeting a worsening housing shortage by mandating that local governments permit multifamily housing in commercially zoned areas. The effort sought to boost housing supply and improve affordability by stripping away local zoning authority. Local governments, true to the state's live free or die motto, didn't give up the fight. This year, lawmakers introduced a bill to repeal the year-old mandate outright."
"Cooler heads prevailed in the House, where a committee rewrote the bill into targeted fixes. They aimed to mollify municipal critics without gutting the underlying reform. House Bill 1010 passed the full House in February after lawmakers amended it. The New Hampshire Senate Commerce Committee followed suit on April 30. The bill now awaits a full Senate vote."
"State legislatures enact sweeping housing preemption laws to override local zoning, only to return the following session to patch gaps that municipalities exploit or challenge. The cycle of legislate-then-revise has become a defining feature of the national pro-housing movement, as local governments push back against what they call an erosion of their authority."
"In Florida, lawmakers have amended the Live Local Act three times since its 2023 passage, each time tightening language that local governments had exploited to delay or block projects. In Connecticut, a governor vetoed his own administration's housing reform bill after suburban officials mounted opposition, and then signed a compromise into law. The lesson from statehouse to statehouse is the same passing the law is the easy part."
New Hampshire lawmakers required local governments to allow multifamily housing in commercially zoned areas to address a worsening housing shortage and improve affordability. Local governments resisted and challenged the loss of zoning authority. A bill introduced to repeal the mandate was rewritten into targeted fixes to address municipal concerns while preserving the core reform. House Bill 1010 passed the full House in February after amendments and advanced through the Senate Commerce Committee on April 30, awaiting a full Senate vote. The effort fits a broader national pattern where states pass sweeping housing preemption laws and then return to patch gaps municipalities exploit or challenge. Similar amendments and compromises occurred in Florida and Connecticut.
Read at www.housingwire.com
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