New Hampshire takes a tiny step in the right direction

Home Buying

Amid the housing crunch, small structures are giving more people a place they can afford to live.

Despite what may appear to be a surplus of space, a place to call home is still out of reach for many in New Hampshire.

In May, the state median single-family home price in New Hampshire hit $540,000, according to the NH Association of Realtors, marking 64 consecutive months of year-over-year increases.

Statewide, the median income is $96,838, according to the latest US census, while the 2024 median rent was $1,833 for a two-bedroom apartment, according to New Hampshire Housing. A statewide needs assessment published by that agency in 2023 estimated that New Hampshire needs 60,000 new units to accommodate its population by 2030, and 90,000 units by 2040.

But a new bill poised to become law could make building small one way to chip away at this big problem. New Hampshire House Bill 577 would allow property owners the right to build detached accessory dwelling units — what are often referred to as “tiny homes” — of up to 950 square feet on their land if it already contains a single-family dwelling, expanding on a 2017 law allowing ADUs. HB577 passed both the House and Senate, and now awaits signature from Governor Kelly Ayotte.

While there is no universal definition of what constitutes a tiny home, the state observes existing international building code as a guideline, generally agreed upon through standards set by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, as falling under 400 square feet. In 2024, the size was amended by New Hampshire to 600 square feet. But, much of the existing law’s implementation falls to local municipalities, which vary in their approach; HB577 will further empower property owners who want to build detached units on their land. Massachusetts began allowing ADUs in single-family zoning districts last summer.

Housing needs are changing, said state Representative Joe Alexander Jr., a Republican from Goffstown who heads the Housing Committee in the House and is also a sponsor of the bill. Especially for younger people and an aging population, a large single-family home may not be the answer, he said.

“Tiny homes are just another piece of the puzzle,” said Alexander, who noted the units could be used to house aging family members who want to downsize but stay close, or caretakers.

In Dover, a tiny home experiment is already underway. Architect Maggie Randolph and her contractor husband, John Randolph, who own a group of local senior care facilities called Harmony Homes, teamed up to develop the Cottages at Back River Road, a neighborhood of 44 rental homes that are 544 square feet each.

The duo saw their 80 employees struggling to find affordable local housing during the pandemic and shopped the idea around to local towns, finding flexible and receptive allies in Dover.

Unit rents are capped at the fair market rate for the Portsmouth area, which is $1,517 for a one-bedroom in this region. All units at the cottages are technically one-bedrooms per local zoning and the rental rate, though they also feature a loft for a more flexible configuration. Maggie estimated the rent across the community is around $1,500 for most residents, though the team’s employees also receive discounts depending on their job. The Randolphs also own workforce units elsewhere, some of which are suitable for families.

About 70 people live in the cottages, about a quarter of them employees, where turnover is low, the Randolphs said. Other members of the local workforce have moved in, including teachers and first responders, building an occupancy that John Randolph called “the backbone of our communities.” The Randolphs said they aim to keep rent at about 30 percent to 33 percent of renters’ incomes.

“I philosophically have a problem with saying, ‘Come to my city and work in it, but you can’t afford to live in it,’” John Randolph said. “We’re big on the people that are making our communities work, the people that plow our roads, the people that respond to our fires or emergencies or anything else, can have a chance to live in the community.”

The units have garden spaces and porches, and the Randolphs tout age diversity as a community-building bonus, with 19-year-olds living alongside 72-year-olds.

“We have teachers that were commuting nearly an hour a day to teach, and are now riding their bike to work,” he said. “That’s more time with their kids, more time with the family, more time for their own personal health.”

Why not build an affordable multiunit apartment building instead? Maggie Randolph said freestanding cottages — even while including more units — received less community resistance because they fit seamlessly into the neighborhood, even resembling the aesthetics of larger nearby homes.

“It was much easier getting through the Planning Board and [to] work with our neighbors and be respectful of them, than if we had tried to come in again and say, ‘All right, let’s get a variance, and let’s do a five-story building,’” she said.

The state Housing Committee recently visited with Mike Danis, a Lyndeborough construction business owner who saw building tiny homes as a way for his aging employees to keep working while avoiding more dangerous and physically demanding tasks, such as climbing atop tall ladders. Over time, New Hampshire’s narrowing affordability became a motivator for him, too: When his daughter moved back to the state, she couldn’t afford to purchase a home there.

Danis created a model tiny home in his workshop, which he said could create a custom tiny home in 12 weeks. A unit would cost around $150,000.

While Danis builds the homes to be portable, they’re not the same as a camper, he said. They are built at a scale that allows them to be transported without special permits, but aren’t meant to be moved regularly. That’s an important distinction, because some who oppose the style associate them with mobile home stigma, Danis said. “What I’m advocating for is to legitimize tiny houses as a home.”

It’s not for everyone, such as those with many belongings, advocates agree. But Danis said in building for primary residence usage, design makes a difference.

“I try to design them so that they feel big inside, so that there’s windows and it feels open,” he said. “We’re trying to maximize the space and make them really comfortable.”

Varied reception across counties has limited widespread implementation, but Danis hopes that by raising their profile — such as through the recent legislative visit — he can make tiny homes more appealing.

“When you approach towns and they say … ‘We don’t want these in our town, it’s going to devalue everybody’s property.’ You know, it’s like, give people a chance to try to find an alternate to an $800,000 house,” said Danis, who added that he hopes local mortgage companies can provide associated financing models.

Sarah Wrightsman, manager of community engagement and Education at New Hampshire Housing, said that “pocket neighborhoods” — small, grouped developments such as the one in Dover — are something the organization discusses frequently as one potential solution to the state’s affordable housing crisis. But in a place where agriculture and conservation rank high among land use priorities, density fears may stoke opposition. Wrightsman brought up a study by the American Farmland Trust that pointed to sprawl as a threat against farmland.

“I think there’s confusion about what that looks like and what that means in New Hampshire,” she said. Excessive anti-density zoning may actually backfire; more density in some places, and not others, may be the best way to protect conservation areas.

“We know that increasing density, but being smart about where we put that density, is the best way to sort of achieve both goals: conservation and housing,” she said.

While no single format will solve the housing problem, tiny homes may be one helpful tool in New Hampshire’s kit. Wrightsman gave another local example: the historic New Hampshire farm community. More flexible zoning could allow for sprawling farmhouses to be split into smaller units, while preserving the deeply traditional structures.

And while not every individual can construct a village, HB577’s expanded flexibility could extend that problem-solving capacity into residents’ backyards.

“We feel pretty strongly about there being a good mix, not just because we need a mix of housing, because people all have sort of different preferences and lifestyles and priorities,” Wrightsman said.