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Senate bill seeks $12 million per year for shelters, $3 million for prevention as homelessness spikes in New Hampshire
Summary
Senate Bill 113 would allocate $12 million per year to maintain and expand homeless shelter beds and $3 million per year for prevention programs; shelter operators and advocates told the finance committee that shelters are full and prevention funding routinely runs out mid-year.
Senate Bill 113 would provide $12,000,000 per year to sustain existing homeless shelter beds and support additional emergency shelter capacity, plus $3,000,000 per year for homeless-prevention services, sponsor Sen. Regina Birdsell told the Senate Finance Committee.
Supporters — shelter operators, statewide advocates and local officials — testified that New Hampshire is facing a sharp rise in homelessness and that shelters are operating at or near capacity. Maria Devlin, president and CEO of Families in Transition (Manchester), said her agency’s adult shelter has 138 beds and the family shelter has 46 beds; occupancy rates were about 97% and the agency turned away 885 adults last year. Devlin said the agency faces a roughly $1,000,000 funding gap for operations that it now fills through philanthropy.
Other providers gave similar accounts. Will Arvello, executive director of Crossroads House (Portsmouth), said the shelter is funded largely by private donors and that a $27/day reimbursement covers roughly 25–28% of operating costs. Crossroads has a 252-person wait list for beds, Arvello said. Karen Rosenhiser of the Home For All Coalition and Jennifer Chisholm of the New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness cited statewide data: according to witnesses, the HUD 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report shows a 71.3% increase in unsheltered homelessness from 2023 to 2024 and, by witnesses’ account, a 288.6% increase compared with 2019 (figures presented as reported to the committee).
Advocates urged funding for prevention programs that keep households housed. Witnesses described the Housing Stabilization Program (administered by DHHS) as effective but chronically underfunded, often running out of funds mid-year.
DHHS finance staff told the committee the agency submitted $10,000,000 in its agency-phase budget for the biennium (allocated as $8,000,000 for regular shelters and $2,000,000 for cold-weather shelters) and identified a prioritized need of $2,500,000 per fiscal year to maintain current contracted provider rates. DHHS also said renewing the Medicaid state plan amendment (to preserve certain supportive-housing benefits) is already approved through June 30, 2027; the department said a renewal application would be submitted in December 2026 if needed. DHHS fiscal staff said the bill as written would require two additional departmental positions for grants and fiscal contract management; the department provided estimated salary ranges for those positions in testimony.
Committee procedure: the committee later voted to report the bill favorably by voice vote and intends to handle the appropriation decisions during the biennial budget process. No roll-call tally was recorded in the hearing transcript.
