Homes Within Reach: Littleton's Housing Initiative
Press Release: Littleton Launches a New Housing Intiative with InvestNH Funding
February 11, 2025 - The Town of Littleton is proud to announce the launch of “Homes Within Reach: Littleton’s Housing Initiative,” made possible through funding from the InvestNH Housing Opportunity Planning (HOP) Grant Program. The Homes Within Reach Initiative aims to address the pressing need for affordable and accessible housing in the community and promote sustainable growth.
The project, funded by Governor Sununu's $100 million InvestNH initiative, will enable Littleton to explore local regulations that will help increase the housing supply, with a focus on affordable and workforce housing. The town is working with North Country Council to conduct a comprehensive community outreach program, conduct a housing needs assessment, and audit existing land use regulations.
"This grant provides a unique opportunity for Littleton to address our housing challenges head-on," said Town Manager Troy Brown. "We're excited to work with North Country Council to engage the community and create recommendations for a more inclusive and affordable housing landscape for our residents."
The InvestNH program has already shown promising results across the state, with a reported 18% increase in residential construction permits issued since its launch. Littleton joins eleven other communities in the North Country and dozens of other New Hampshire communities benefiting from this transformative initiative.
Key Components of the Initiative
The work being done through this initiative includes:
- Conducting focus groups, interviews, and community outreach events to learn about housing needs today and anticipated needs in the future from the Town’s stakeholders;
- Analyzing current zoning ordinances to identify barriers to housing development; and
- Developing recommendations for regulatory changes to promote housing growth.
The North Country Council (embed link https://www.nccouncil.org/) team will have quarterly conversations with the Littleton Planning Board to discuss key components of the initiative and keep them informed on the progress of the following deliverables:
- Needs Assessment Report: summary of key points from Focus Groups, Informant Interviews, and Open Houses
- Zoning Ordinance Review: summary of findings related to conflicts of ADUs, conversions, congregate living and infill, and if/how those may relate to community feedback
- Site Plan Review Audit: summary of findings after GIS Audit of lots that can accommodate ADUs conversions, congregate living and infill and research of other communities, similar to Littleton, that don’t have site plan review and their process
- Ordinance Recommendations: summary of top recommendations concerning housing
If the Planning Board decides to accept any recommendations, they will comply with the requirements outlined in RSA 375:3, 6, and 7. That process will require the proper notice of any public hearings that discuss any proposed changes.
How this Initiative connects to Littleton's Master Plan
One of the key responsibilities of the Planning Board, as authorized by RSA 674:1, is to review and update or amend the Master Plan and Land Use ordinances and regulations. The current Master Plan, adopted in 2021, talks about the importance of building new homes and improving existing ones to provide affordable housing in Littleton. Below are some direct excerpts from the Implementation Chapter of the Littleton Master Plan:
1.1 Complete a policy audit of the Master Plan and land use regulations to ensure they are aligned. Where they are not aligned, identify regulatory changes that are needed.
1.3 Complete a housing and regulations inventory to ensure that Littleton’s regulations provide opportunities to create and track a diverse mix of housing unit types, including housing solutions such as co-housing and tiny homes.
1.4 Research alternatives for monitoring and permitting the creation of new residential units. This could be accomplished through a permit requirement or other regulatory process.
1.7 Review and revise the zoning ordinance, with guidance from the Future Land Use map and plan, to ensure future development is located in areas that do not strain the water system and any of the other resources and infrastructure discussed in this Plan.
2.5 Pursue opportunities to reuse or redesign existing industrial and commercial areas, including the reuse of existing buildings and infill with new development. Building design, signs, landscaping, and overall appearance of these areas should be encouraged to meet high standards. Attention to image and appearance is part of being a regional center and will help attract more commercial, industrial, and tourism growth.
The Initiative is one method for the Planning Board to fulfill some of its authorized duties.
Get Involved!
Residents, landlords, and employers interested in learning more about the Homes Within Reach Initiative are encouraged to check out the following events:
- Focus Group Details:
All of the Focus Groups are open to the public, however each Focus Group will have questions geared to specific stakeholders. Feel free to RSVP for one, two or all of them!
Dates
Focus Group #1 for Housing Developers, Managers and Real Estate Agents: Wednesday, June 4th, 2-3:30pm. RSVP: http://forms.office.com/r/Hhatf1CFYT
Focus Group #2 for Businesses/Employers: Tuesday, June 10th, 9-11am. RSVP: http://littletonareachamber.com/morning-buzz/
Focus Group #3 for Community-Based Organizations: Thursday, June 12th, 9-11am. RSVP: http://forms.office.com/r/Hhatf1CFYT
Location: All Focus Groups will meet at the Community House, located at 120 Main Street in downtown Littleton.
- First Friday booth on Friday, June 7th
- Littleton Farmer's Market booth on Sunday, June 26th
You may also join interviews if you want to share your personal experiences as renters, new homeowners, long-time homeowners, property managers, landlords, or if you are struggling to find a place to live.
Other Resources:
NH Housing Toolbox: A guide for NH communities to help with planning and zoning to increase the housing supply.
NH Housing Finance Authority’s Frequently Used Housing Terms and Definitions
NH Housing Finance Authority’s Accessory Dwelling Unit resources: NHHFA has developed and collected numerous resources related to ADUs, which can help increase the number of available housing units.
NH Housing Finance Authority’s Meeting the Workforce Housing Challenge: This Guidebook is designed to help local land use boards address the requirements of the workforce housing statute. It’s goal was to determine if there has been a change in the findings of similar studies completed over the past 20 years which have found there has been little correlation between new housing development and increases in school enrollment.
NH Housing Finance Authority’s From Homes to Classrooms: This study published in 2024 looks at the relationship between housing development and school enrollment in NH.
NH Housing Finance Authority’s Short-Term Rentals in NH Analysis of Data report: This report reviews data collected from 2014-2023 to explore how short-term rental units affect the availability of long-term rental housing units.
North Country Council’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment: A resource for North Country RPC region communities to understand and meet the region’s housing needs, featuring community housing fact sheets backed by census data and suggestions for addressing the identified housing needs.
NH Housing’s North Country Housing Needs Analysis: An in-depth review of housing needs in the North Country, including suggested policies and strategies for local governments and builders or developers to consider.
North Country Council's ADU Webinar resources
Workforce Housing Messaging and Myths: The Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast has compiled various resources related to Workforce housing to better help explain its role in communities.
Strong Towns’s The Housing-Ready City: A toolkit for local code reform to achieve the end goal of getting more housing built or created. It’s a “set of commonsense, incremental reforms” for local land use boards to consider.