The Seated from left: Tony Fernandez, director, NH Manufacturing Extension Partnership; Shannon Swett, chief impact officer, Granite United Way; James McKim, founder, Organization Ignition and vice president, Manchester NAACP; Susan Stearns, executive director, NAMI New Hampshire; and Matt Menning, president, NH Home Builders Association. Standing from left: Brandon Caron, COO, Spectacle Live; Kyle Schneck, chief lending officer, St. Mary’s Bank; James Gallagher, senior vice president and commercial lender, Merrimack County Savings Bank; John Whelan, co-founder, NH Life Sciences; Amanda Grappone Osmer, owner and chief vision officer, Grappone Automotive Group; and Paul Beaudin, president, Manchester Community College (Photos by Christine Carignan)
Merrimack Valley region of NH spans from Canterbury down to the border with Massachusetts in Nashua and is home to nearly 30% of the state’s population. It includes the state’s largest city, Manchester, and many of the state’s largest employers.
In March, Business NH Magazine convened its sixth regional roundtable in the past year, bringing together business and nonprofit leaders from across the Merrimack Valley to tackle pressing challenges including the lack of affordable housing, workforce shortages, and lack of childcare.
Despite the complex landscape shaped by political uncertainty and shifting global markets, the business and nonprofit leaders at the roundtable remain committed to innovation and collaboration. They shared how companies and organizations are stepping up with creative solutions to complicated problems.
Housing Affordability
Not surprisingly, one topic that popped up repeatedly was housing costs. Home sales and rents are rising faster than income, making it increasingly hard to afford quality housing. This is especially true for low- and moderate-income families. In 2023, nearly half of renters in NH were cost-burdened, meaning they spent over 30% of their income on housing; those earning under $35,000 often dedicated over half their income to rent. The median sale price for a single-family home statewide reached $515,000 in April 2024, far outpacing wage growth according to the NH Fiscal Policy Institute (NHFPI).
Kyle Schneck, chief lending officer for St. Mary’s Bank in Manchester, says housing is at the top of the list of challenges for the credit union’s members. The credit union has branches throughout Merrimack Valley, including five in Manchester. “It’s just such a strain on individuals and there’s a big dichotomy between the haves and the have nots,” he says.
About six years ago, Schneck says the cost for multifamily housing was rising more gradually. “We were seeing rental rates go up then, but they would go up more reasonably. Now purchasing a home is almost impossible for some [people] because they’re coming from situations where they were paying maybe $1,000 a month to rent a two-bedroom and now they’re paying $1,800 to $2,200 a month,” he says. “And two bedrooms units are now as high as $3,500 in Manchester.”
Schneck manages the collections team at St. Mary’s and says many individuals are struggling to make ends meet. “Every month we’re seeing greater and greater and greater strain on our members in terms of how far they can stretch their dollar,” he says.
As of 2023, NH faced a deficit of over 23,500 housing units needed to just stabilize the market. Projections indicate that nearly 60,000 additional units will be required between 2020 and 2030 to accommodate population growth and meet demand, according to a 2023 study released by NH Housing. Rental vacancy rates in the state have remained critically low, with statewide averages below 1% for over 10 years. A balanced rental market vacancy rate is approximately 5%.
Matt Menning, president of the NH Homebuilders Association and a principal at Elm Grove Companies in Hooksett, says housing supply has not kept up with demand in the last 30 years. “Over the last 30 years, versus 30 years prior to that, New Hampshire pulled 110,000 or 120,000 fewer building permits. It’s going to take 10 years to build out of this issue,”
Menning says.
Barriers to building affordable housing—ranging from zoning regulations and environmental constraints to community resistance—continue to hamper progress, Menning continues. “Interest rates are a problem, certainly, but so are lot sizes, energy codes, and NIMBYism [Not in my backyard],” he says. “If we agree as a society or as a state that there’s a crisis, we need to prioritize how to make it easier to build. It’s not a one solution type of problem. There are 500 different solutions that need to be put into place.”
“It’s economics 101. More supply creates lower prices,” Menning says. “The towns that are doing construction well are allowing for housing to happen.”
Left: James Gallagher, Right: Matt Menning
Housing Crisis Hinders Economic Growth
All issues are interconnected, and a lack of housing has a direct effect on the economy. Amanda Grappone Osmer, fourth-generation owner and chief vision officer of the Grappone Automotive Group, which operates five dealerships in NH (it will be selling two of its dealerships later this year), says 10 positions are currently open. She describes a diesel tech from Connecticut who recently waited a year to secure housing in NH. “He’s now at our Ford store but he couldn’t find a place,’” she says. “And he was single with no pets. That was the weird part. It wasn’t like he had nine kids and four dogs. He just needed a room, a place to be in.”
When companies can’t hire new staff, they often can’t grow. This is a problem that James Gallagher, senior vice president and commercial lender at Merrimack County Savings Bank in Concord, sees happening in many sectors. “Amanda knows better than all of us, given the size of her business. We financed over 600 businesses, and you know we hear about the housing crisis and childcare, but the real impact is long term, and it affects all of us,” he says. “If a business can’t grow because they can’t find their people, they’re going to stagnate and, in some cases, jobs will move out of state.”
This brain drain is a huge issue, says Tony Fernandez, the director of the NH Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NH-MEP) in Concord. “There is no sustainable housing, and [people] will only stay if they have some place to live,” he says. “It’s a really big problem.”
According to the NH Fiscal Policy Institute, the state’s workforce constraint eased slightly in 2024. After expanding by just 0.2% in 2023, NH’s labor force grew approximately 1.3% last year. That progress may be short-lived, however, according to NHFPI. About 31% of the state’s labor force is 55 or older, and 9.2% are 65 or older. The state currently lacks a younger population large enough to fill all jobs left by retirements coming in the next decade.
Paul Beaudin, president of Manchester Community College, says skills in HVAC, electrical, and welding, all programs the college provides, are needed to help feed the manufacturing workforce pipeline. But Beaudin adds the high cost of housing is causing some to attend part time, which can lead to higher drop-out rates. “Having to work to pay for housing is going to take them a longer amount of time to complete degrees and sometimes the longer a student is in college the less likely they are to [finish],” he says.
The impact of these issues on economic development is often evident when driving through downtown areas, says Brandon Caron, COO for Spectacle Live, which runs performing arts centers and concert venues across New England, including the Nashua Center for the Arts and the Colonial Theater in Laconia. Caron says housing and cost of living constraints hinder efforts to maintain and attract local businesses in downtown areas.
He is also concerned about the impact of federal funding cuts. “Arts organizations and people who rent our buildings are funded by the federal government. And when a meat cleaver goes through [the budget], they may have to pull back on their spending and not produce as many events. That may also mean they’re not renting buildings.”
Stemming the Vicious Circle
For people in the early part of their careers the high cost of housing is especially burdensome, says John Whelan, co-founder of NH Life Sciences and senior manager at Alexander Technology Group, a staffing firm in Bedford. “Those entry level jobs that pay around $50,000 a year make it impossible to afford most rents and forget about buying a house at that rate,” he says.
Biotech, which comes with higher paying jobs, is one of the bright spots in the economy. According to the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and the Council of State Bioscience Associations, employment in NH’s life science industry has grown 28% since 2019, the highest rate of any industry in the state, Whelan says.
NH Life Sciences is spearheading a partnership called the Industry and Education Partnership bringing together leaders from companies like Lonza and Novo Nordisk as well as the NH Community College System, Dartmouth College and the University System of NH. The primary goals of the partnership will be to raise awareness of life sciences career opportunities in the state, pinpoint specific skills gaps, and develop strategies to address them, and align classroom curriculum with industry needs.
“We’re bringing industry together to help to begin to figure out what industry actually needs, what education they need,” Whelan says. “One goal is to put together a curriculum. And there’s going to be some expectation that industry is going to hire these folks when they go through these programs.”
Whelan says there needs to be a statewide policy that allows the building of more affordable housing so the biotech industry and other sectors can grow. Some of the problem, he says, is due to the NIMBY problem. “And this leads to a vicious circle because companies don’t want to come here if there’s not a workforce and the workforce doesn’t want to come if there’s not housing,” he says.
James McKim, founder of Organization Ignition and vice president of the Manchester NAACP, says innovation is needed to overcome the NIMBY problem. “We’re a pretty conservative state, which means we love our status quo. We don’t like change, we’re human,” he says. “The question is, how do we get people to change from that status quo?”
One innovative way to address the housing problem, says McKim, who sits on the board of directors for NH Businesses for Social Responsibility, is the creation of workforce housing by businesses, which has been more prevalent in other regions. Dartmouth Health has developed multiple workforce housing options in the Upper Valley region and Hart’s Turkey Farm in Meredith, which employs over 230 people during peak season, owns two apartment buildings for employees. “Employees, from what I’m hearing, are grateful because there’s a solution that’s being put forth. They’re desperate,” he says.
Osmer says she wishes she could build employee housing but doesn’t have the land or the cash to do it. “I went to Hershey Park one time and thought how clever it was that employee housing was built all around the park,” she says. “In concept, I love the idea because it’s a way of providing stability for somebody and for their family.”
Kyle Schneck of St. Mary’s Bank listens as Shannon Swett of the Granite United Way makes a point.
Caring for the Most Vulnerable
The region has the highest population density in the state, which also means it has a high share of people who live in poverty and are most at-risk for housing insecurity and homelessness, mental health issues, and unsafe housing conditions.
Susan Stearns, executive director of NAMI NH (National Alliance on Mental Illness), describes two people in their 70s and 80s who recently lost their home after it was deemed uninhabitable, so they were living in their car. “Throughout this entire winter they have been living in their car, but her illness is preventing them from accessing emergency shelter,” Stearns says. “The hope is that because of their age they will get assistance this spring but it’s such a long wait to get that kind of assistance.”
To address the need for safe, timely housing, organizations like the Granite United Way operate the Affordable Housing Incentive Program serving Merrimack, Belknap, Rockingham, and Strafford counties. The program addresses the immediate needs related to homelessness and the shortage of affordable housing by partnering with local landlords to increase affordability and reduce barriers to accessing assisted housing programs.
“The lack of housing is definitely a concern for those who are most vulnerable,” says Granite United Way Chief Impact Officer Shannon Swett. “People need to be able to access affordable and safe housing.”
Granite United Way created the Landlord Incentive Program with 70 to 80 landlords across the state. “We’ve really tried to engage landlords across the state to accept vouchers as well as educating them about stigma and workforce concerns,” Swett says, explaining Granite United Way has already surpassed its goal of enrolling 30 people in housing this year. “And we’re working with NH Hospital and NFI North to connect people who are discharged from the hospital to permanent housing.”
Swett says funding from the Community Development Finance Authority and American Rescue Plan Act has allowed Granite United Way to offer landlords incentives. “It’s really a public and private partnership because we were also able to secure resources from some banking partners,” she says, explaining a repair fund was included that could compensate landlords for damage to their property. “There’s more willingness on the landlord’s part when these incentives are available to engage with us.”
Cuts to Federal Funding
Swett says Granite United Way is concerned about cuts in federal funding to its agency partners that provide services across the region. “Many of them receive a significant portion of their budget from the federal government and if those funds are gone, there’s going to be much more competition for state funds,” she says. “The other piece is philanthropy. There’s a competing interest for philanthropic dollars as well.” Swett says tighter budgets makes it more challenging to meet the increasing needs of the people they serve, which can leave one “just feeling helpless at times.”
McKim says nonprofits play an important role in a state with limited government resources. “The nonprofits are taking up and doing the things that the government is not doing,” he says. “And nonprofits are facing the exact same challenges as many businesses but it’s even more difficult for them because they don’t have a customer base who’s paying the bill or could potentially pay the bill.”
Stearns of NAMI NH is particularly concerned about threats to Medicaid. “If Medicaid were negatively impacted at the front end through the feds it would be devastating to New Hampshire,” she says.
Proposed federal changes to Medicaid could cost the state up to $493 million annually, creating significant challenges for NH’s state budget and access to health care, according to an analysis from NHFPI released in January. “Premiums will go up and we’ll lose hospitals,” Stearns says.
Salaries and Labor Supply
Because of the difficulties many individuals are facing with housing and the cost of living, Schneck says St. Mary’s Bank is seeing mortgage delinquencies rising. “A lot of individuals are struggling,” he says. “This is a canary we’re hearing. But as a banker nothing drives me crazier than throwing a bunch of money in the system because this creates inflation and that means the consumer will spend less.”
Schneck says what keeps him up at night is concern about how people coming out of college and those working in the services industries who are making below a living wage will make ends meet. “As Amanda will attest, I don’t think there’s one business I talk to who isn’t willing to pay for good employees,” he says. “It’s a supply issue.”
McKim challenged Schneck, saying, “I’m hearing people discuss the notion that the salaries that are being offered aren’t enough.”
Osmer nodded in agreement. “I just lost someone because we don’t pay them enough according to him,” she says. “Someone else was willing to pay him more.”
But it’s more than that, says McKim. “It’s not just that people aren’t paid enough; it’s also the affordability piece. I wonder if we don’t make it a reductionist discussion about not being able to find people because part of the reason they can’t find people is they’re not able to pay enough to bring a person in.”
Schneck says he has seen firsthand the struggles small businesses face trying to compete when the cost of living keeps increasing dramatically. “My wife owns a small business and people have expectations for what they want to earn, what they really need to earn. For her business it’s a real challenge. For more well-established businesses it’s a [labor] source issue but my wife can’t afford to pay someone $75,000 or $80,000 a year out of college. So, it’s a little bit of both,” Schneck says.
Menning says despite wage increases, which place financial pressure on businesses, people still struggle to live. “What’s crazy is for our lowest wage entry level people since 2020, that starting wage has gone up 75% to 80% which theoretically outpaced inflation” he says. “They’re still finding that to be unaffordable to live and survive. It’s like trying to get blood out of a rock. You’re squeezing both ends.”
Optimism Ahead
A bright spot in the region is the emergence of The ReGen Valley Tech Hub, a federally designated biotech cluster led by Dean Kamen’s Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), with headquarters in Manchester and Nashua. Since receiving an initial $80 million federal grant, ARMI has attracted nearly half a billion dollars in funding, transforming Manchester’s historic Millyard into a center for cutting-edge biofabrication and regenerative medicine.
“ARMI has had a massive impact and really put Manchester on the map,” says Whelan, who first encountered ARMI while serving on the board of the NH Tech Alliance. ARMI’s success, he notes, is rooted in collaboration among community colleges, workforce programs, and
industry leaders.
Those partnerships are also guiding efforts to rebuild the state’s skilled workforce. Events like Bring Back the Trades have drawn bipartisan support, including from Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who plans to invest in expanding technical education and job credentialing through the Community College System of NH.
Osmer, one of the organizers of the Bring Back the Trades event last fall, has been working with a workforce development task force formed by Gov. Ayotte, along with Community College System of NH Vice Chancellor Chuck Lloyd. They have been speaking with companies and community colleges around the state to create more connections and awareness between companies and organizations that can provide workforce resources, she says. “I would love for anybody around this room to be a part of this to help inform our work, to have it all in one place, so we can collaborate more effectively.”
