In the race to represent Fitzwilliam and Troy in the N.H. House, Rep.
Dick Thackston III, the Republican incumbent, and Jack Gettens, the Democratic challenger, agree that increasing the supply of affordable housing needs to be a priority. A 2023 report by N.H.
Housing, which finances residential projects, found that the state had a housing shortage of 23,500 units, and that this has driven up costs to rent or buy and limited economic growth. “I think the biggest issue in New Hampshire right now is housing,” Gettens said in an interview Wednesday. “For first-time homebuyers, young families starting out, housing is largely unaffordable.
It’s also a workforce issue. Employers that are looking to expand their workforce are encountering problems finding housing for their workers.” Gettens, 65, of Troy, is a researcher with the University of Massachusetts’ Chan Medical School and was the director of the N.
H. Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Family Assistance in the late 1990s. He said he would like to see the state partner with municipalities in developing new land-use ordinances that would make it easier for developers to build housing.
The state could provide technical assistance, model ordinances and financing for affordable housing while also promoting careers in the construction trades, Gettens said. N.H.
Republican Rep. Dick Thackston III, 67, a select board member in Troy and the managing partner of a real estate firm, said the lack of avai.