Aitken: The Debate Over State-Controlled Housing Rages On

There is a debate raging between so-called property rights anarchists and their cohorts in the home builders lobby vs homeowners who want to preserve single family neighborhoods, where 70% of NH's residents have purchased our homes.

Does your State Rep or Governor Ayotte even know or understand what what is actually in these housing bills, or the consequences of passing these bills?

Take for example HB 685... This bill would force towns to allow a trailer (mobile home) on ANY residential lot or property throughout the state.

The NH Municipal Association, long thought to be a 'liberal' organization, is against these bills, while 152 Democrats voted with 68 Republicans in the House of Reps last term to eradicate single family zoning with HB 1291. Many Reps told me they had no idea it would have that effect.

The goal of some so-called 'conservatives' is to eradicate single family zoning just as was done in California and we all know how bad things are there. This is straight up Agenda 2030.

“Indeed, studies in Vancouver, Canada and several other locations have linked densification with higher land prices and diminished housing affordability. California already has the highest urban density of any US state and suffers from some of the highest rental and housing costs in the country. The densification agenda is already being implemented in places like California, with policies aimed at destroying single-family home ownership at a time when the market has shifted even more towards suburbia.”

In California, single family zones have been all but eradicated, making single family homes more scarce and more expensive. Similarly, California is the state with the highest amount of high density housing, yet this fact has not affected affordability. California is still the state with the second highest housing costs, with a median home value of $784,840. It also has one of the highest numbers of homeless and unemployed.

Republicans should not be emulating California, or whining about 'snob zoning'. They should take a look at what happened when the Bolsheviks took over housing in 1917.

It did not end well for them, and won't end well for us.