Record-high home prices are a top concern for New Hampshire voters and could impact the outcome of this year's gubernatorial race.
All the candidates agree the state's permitting process needs to be streamlined by removing regulatory red tape - but leading Republican candidate Kelly Ayotte could have a conflict of interest.
A recent report shows she is a board member and shareholder with Blackstone, a private equity firm, which critics say has a history of buying properties only to raise prices and force tenants out.
State Sen. Rebecca Perkins-Kwoka - D-Portsmouth - said it's a practice impacting communities statewide.
"You know we do see this corporate investment in single-family homes affecting availability," said Perkins-Kwoka, "not just in homes to buy but also in homes to rent."
She said Democratic candidates Joyce Craig and Cinde Warmington understand the urgency of the housing shortage - and that Craig has a "comprehensive plan" to incentivize construction of affordable, multi-family units.
It's estimated the state will need 90,000 new housing units by 2040 to meet demand.
New Hampshire lawmakers made some progress this year, approving legislation to help convert commercial properties into residential spaces and allow for quicker zoning law changes.
Perkins-Kwoka said she hears from colleges, hospitals, residents, and businesses all struggling with the housing shortage.
"They can't find workers," said Perkins-Kwoka, "there's a definite workforce shortage and it traces right back to people's ability to be located here and find housing in the community."
She said lawmakers don't need to "recreate the wheel" to fix the housing crisis - pointing to the state's successful Housing Champions Program, for example, which directs infrastructure funds to towns that take housing-friendly actions.
She said families, many with school-age children, are being uprooted across the state due to the lack of affordable housing and the next governor will need to tackle the crisis head-on.
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Denver's homeless population hit an all-time high in 2024 but there is actually no shortage of available housing units, according to a new report.
Omar Ocampo, researcher at the Institute for Policy Studies and the report's co-author, said much of the housing built over the past two decades is not homes for people. Those units, many of which remain vacant, are being used by hedge funds and the wealthy as a safe and profitable place to park large sums of untaxed wealth.
"We have seen, over the past decade or so, a boom in luxury real estate," Ocampo observed. "Basically, the only people who can afford it are people who are ultrahigh net worth, or at the top of the income distribution."
The report showed how corporations and wealthy investors from across the globe have amassed large tracts of single and multifamily residential units since the housing market crash in 2008. The scale of the purchases has put upward pressure on prices, causing rents to skyrocket and putting homeownership out of reach for millions.
There are 16 million vacant homes across the U.S., which means there are 28 homes for every American experiencing homelessness.
Developers can apply for tax incentives to build affordable housing but the profit margins for luxury units are simply too large for all but nonprofit builders to resist. Ocampo pointed to the Homes Act, recently introduced in the U.S. House, as one way to turn things around for the vast majority of Americans who cannot afford what the marketplace is building.
"We need public investment and to establish a housing development authority, which authorizes hundreds of billions of dollars to develop permanently affordable housing," Ocampo contended
Corporations have also increased their earnings by converting rental stock into short-term vacation homes. Ocampo noted a shareholder report by executives at Blackstone, which now owns more than 300,000 residential units across the U.S., promising profits as rental stock went down.
"Chronic housing shortages meant their ability to raise prices and be able to extract more wealth from vulnerable working-class tenants," Ocampo added.
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A package of New York City bills can help preserve affordable housing.
The Community Land Act creates more pathways for communities to purchase and control land. Two of the bills would allow nonprofits and community land trusts to make a first offer on any multifamily property or public land up for sale.
Will Spisak, senior program associate for the nonprofit New Economy Project, said the bills help build community wealth and let people have control over their neighborhood's future.
"Renters are no longer kind of at the mercy of these slumlords that often neglect the building, extract wealth from the community, and don't reinvest in the living conditions of those properties," Spisak explained. "It creates a way for people to be directly involved in controlling their housing situation."
He added it also creates opportunities to develop permanent affordable housing. Some real estate developers and investors are opposed to the bills, primarily about the transparency measures of the legislation. Spisak countered tenants are tired of not being in control of their housing and feedback for the bills has been overwhelmingly positive. The goal is to have the New York City Council pass the bills in 2025.
Although opposition from the real estate industry has thrown up some barriers, other challenges loom ahead. Spisak noted aside from public education to ensure people know about the measures, there is also the challenge of providing resources to groups looking to take advantage of the bills.
"We need them to be really efficient with how they get the money out to groups," Spisak pointed out. "As well as making sure community groups have access to other resources such as technical assistance professionals who can assist with doing appraisals, doing inspections, and things like that as well as financial resources."
Another element of the Community Land Act is a resolution saying the city supports the state's Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, which could give tenants the first right to collectively buy their building if and when the landlord sells it. Although housing advocates support it, the bill failed in committee during the previous legislative session.
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A new poll shows homelessness is an important issue to voters in Connecticut and nationwide.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness' latest poll shows it is a top issue for voters, behind the economy and crime. Connecticut saw an eight-year drop in homelessness, but the last two point-in-time snapshots indicate it is growing again.
Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said voters across the political spectrum want to address the root causes of homelessness rather than have punitive policies.
"We see folks starting to understand the connection between housing affordability and homelessness in a different way," Oliva explained. "Homelessness is the result of systemic inequities and systemic challenges, and not about individual decisions."
A commonly sought solution for homelessness is building more affordable housing, which elected officials and candidates at different levels of government are discussing. Vice President Kamala Harris is proposing an expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and incentives for builders selling to first-time homebuyers. Former President Donald Trump wants to open federal lands to build more affordable housing and shut out illegal immigrants, though home loans for that population are rare.
However, misunderstandings about homelessness could prevent solutions from being realized. Among voters and elected officials, Oliva noted there are misconceptions about homelessness stemming from a person's choices only, not other systemic issues. She pointed out another misconception is about the connection between homelessness and crime.
"People who are experiencing homelessness are more often the victims of crimes rather than the perpetrators," Oliva stressed. "When those two issues get conflated, it really seeks to dehumanize people who are experiencing really traumatic parts of their lives."
Given how each level of government affects homelessness, Oliva feels the election has high stakes for how the issue is shaped going forward. Since many government institutions might have an assortment of Democrats and Republicans in charge, she said they must come together to develop solutions for ending homelessness.
"We have to find places where we can find some common ground and really educate our elected officials about not only what their constituents want, but what actually works to end homelessness in their communities," Oliva emphasized.
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