The New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs has directed $100,000,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds into housing initiatives and says the program produced more than 5,000 new units through partnerships with private and nonprofit developers.

The department’s commissioner told the House Committee on Housing that the Invest NH program, launched in summer 2022, moved rapidly: “By November of that year, we had made initial awards of $60,000,000 to, for profit and non profit developers of multifamily housing in the state that had an affordability component to it,” Commissioner Caswell said. He described follow‑on municipal programs that distributed the remaining $40,000,000 to towns and cities.

The commissioner said the municipal funding included three tracks: a per‑unit municipal grant, a demolition program to create buildable sites, and a housing opportunity planning program. Under the per‑unit program, municipalities that permitted affordable housing within 60 days became eligible for $10,000 per permitted unit. The housing opportunity planning program, administered with New Hampshire Housing, supported planning and zoning work in roughly 70 communities, Caswell said.

Caswell also announced a new Housing Champions designation established by the legislature. “We are now launching a new program called the Housing Champions…we announced the first 18 communities that have been named housing champions,” he said, adding the designation opens an application process for a $5,000,000 program intended for infrastructure and municipal per‑unit support.

Committee members asked for model ordinances and local examples. Representative Holland requested copies of ordinances that communities adopted as part of the Housing Champions or housing opportunity grants; Caswell agreed to have staff provide a list and examples for the committee to review.

Why it matters: the BEA framed a statewide housing effort that pairs direct developer financing with municipal incentives and planning support, aiming to increase locally led housing production while avoiding a top‑down state zoning mandate. The committee indicated it will seek the municipal ordinances and other implementation details as it begins public hearings on housing bills next week.

Caswell stressed municipal buy‑in as essential: “We can have a $1,000,000,000,000 in federal money, but if we don't have any communities that are willing to sit talk about this and to consider how they might wanna participate in the solution to this, then…that’s a useless amount of money,” he said.

The committee did not vote on any measures at the orientation session; members heard the BEA presentation and asked staff to compile documentation and local examples for future hearings and subcommittee work. The chair said state permitting and rule timelines will be a priority area for committee research and possible legislative action.