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Why?
Population growth in New Hampshire is inevitable. But, sprawl, traffic congestion, a shortage of needed workers and destruction of irreplaceable natural resources are not. New Hampshire is growing and developing rapidly and this trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. The manner in which the state has grown, particularly with the emphasis on large-lot, high-cost residential development, has resulted in a serious shortage of housing opportunities for working families and young adults. This trend is hurting the economy by limiting the available workforce while increasing destruction of natural resources and traffic congestion.
History
The Housing and Conservation Planning Program (HCPP) was developed over the course of 18 months by the efforts of the Growth and Development Roundtable, a broad coalition of business, conservation, housing, municipal, and planning interests, convened in 2005 by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. The roundtable developed HCPP as an incentive-based program that can give communities the ability to treat housing development, economic planning, and conservation as part of a unified planning strategy and not as competing and seemingly irreconcilable goals. The program established through Senate Bill 217, sponsored by Senator Martha Fuller Clark, was passed by the NH Legislature in June and signed by the Governor in July 2007. The legislature appropriated $400,000 for the Program over the next two years.
The Program
HCPP is a new and voluntary grant program offered to municipalities through the Office of Energy and Planning. Grant funds will enable municipalities to purchase technical assistance related to planning for future housing growth needs, including the need for affordable and workforce housing, while preserving quality of life, using land efficiently, and identifying key natural and historic areas to conserve. HCPP will award $400,000 in grants over the next two years.
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