On The WFEA Morning Update, host Jeff Chidester sits down with Drew Cline, President of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, for a deep dive into New Hampshire’s housing crisis and economic future.
The discussion opens with an analysis of recent state housing data. Despite an uptick in available inventory, median home prices remain at record highs across the Granite State. Cline breaks down the core structural issues driving up costs, emphasizing that New Hampshire’s inventory shortage is tied directly to overly restrictive local zoning rules and burdensome regulatory hurdles. To bring housing costs down, Cline outlines policy solutions the state and municipalities can pursue, including expanding opportunities for smaller, more affordable home builds, encouraging accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and streamlining permitting processes to allow supply to meet demand.
The conversation pivots to local economic development, focusing on the resistance facing new commercial investments—specifically data centers. Chidester and Cline discuss why local municipalities like Rochester and Nottingham are enacting short-sighted bans or moratoriums out of misplaced fears regarding water and power consumption.
Cline dispels common misconceptions about the industry, noting that modern data centers use a fraction of the resources that agriculture or local golf courses consume while offering significant tax revenues to host communities. Both Chidester and Cline stress that turning away high-tech infrastructure directly undermines New Hampshire’s broader economic competitiveness and long-term tax base.
