YIMBY:

"Average rent has increased to over $1,500 in Grafton County, 25% higher than the affordability limit for a family of three in this area," Sarah Jackson, executive director of Vital Communities told the packed audience at the Hilton Garden Inn in Lebanon as she ticked off a list of grim housing statistics.

"Simply put, the region's workforce cannot afford the cost of housing in the Upper Valley," she said.

The eight employers who so far have signed up toward capitalizing the loan fund are Hanover Co-op, Hypertherm, King Arthur Baking Co., Dartmouth Health, Dartmouth College, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust and Mascoma Bank, said Deb Flannery, vice president of lending at Evernorth, which will manage the fund and work with developers.

After years of drip-drip levels of development, housing construction in the Upper Valley has picked up -- but much of what is being built remains out of reach for average workers.

More than 1,000 units are currently under construction, permitted or in the permit pipeline in Lebanon, Hartford, Hanover and Claremont, a study by Evernorth estimates. That's the good news.

The bad news? Only 70 of those units will be affordable to the 6,600 renters in Grafton and Windsor counties who are identified as "rent-burdened," Evernorth estimates.

Flannery said the fund aims to build apartments for people earning from $15 to $25 per hour with household incomes that can afford rents of $1,200 to $1,600 per month.

In comparison, the current average market rate for apartments in Grafton and Windsor counties is running from $1,500 to $2,200 per month, she noted.

"So you can see considerable savings there between what the market is producing versus what we're hoping to accomplish by using these employer dollars," Flannery said.

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